Beyond the Grace of God
by Ar-Kaos
Summary: Arc 4. Ranma and Nabiki prepare for the launch of Nemesis with a last visit to Nerima, and some of the town's skeletons find the light of day. Outside Nerima Baur's deeds rear their head. Ranko and Nabiki say goodbye and ship out for the war.
1. Return to Nerima

**Chapter 1: Ghosting the past.  
**

"Why we gotta go?" Ranma whined, in a manner that belied both his high military rank and years of combat experience.

"Because Anata they deserve a chance to see their grandchild before she goes away for years, or longer" Nabiki replied as if she had said the same thing countless times.

"Why?" asked Ranma "what have they ever done for us?"

"Stop sulking Ranma" Nabiki ordered, "just enjoy being male again."

The day was already warm and set to get hotter, the sky a brilliant cloudless blue. A light breeze was coming in from the sea bringing hints of salty air and seaweed. The troubles that affected the massive city that was Tokyo were little evident and for the moment even Ranma couldn't help but smile.

The two of them had once again returned to Nerima, for a final visit before the big launch. They had brought the infant Kimiko with them and the baby was currently being carried, happily slumbering one side of her father. Nabiki had decided that it would be unfair to disappear to the other side of the galaxy without at least letting the grandparents see Kimiko one more time. Of course Ranma was somewhat less sure.

Both the parents were wearing civilian clothes, enjoying the lovely spring morning in shorts and shirts. Nabiki's shirt was tied high to proudly display her bust and taught stomach, without stretch marks thanks to some very nifty alien technology. The effect of that display combined with the woman's generous figure and stunning legs was keeping her husband more than a little distracted. Ranma, deliberately walking a little behind Nabiki for reasons that were not entirely reluctance to reach the Tendo-ke, had gone for some black shorts and a deep red cut off t-shirt. His complete bicep scar was now covered by an elaborate tattoo, one Nabiki had chosen.

The two of them had once again chosen to stay at a hotel rather than at the family home but had weakened long enough to agree to meet the Onos for breakfast. So now they were on their way to Ukyo's for a meeting that both of them were dreading a little, one louder than the other.

"Did ya invite mom?" Ranma asked, the idea suddenly occurring to him.

"That would not have been a good idea would it" Nabiki said, perhaps a little too curtly thanks to the early start.

"Huh?" asked Ranma.

"My dad will bring the panda-baka" Nabiki explained, "somehow I think the world is a better place without forcing the two of them to meet."

"Yeah," Ranma agreed "I guess so. So who else did you invite?"  
"Nearly nobody" Nabiki replied, "we'll meet Jess and the others this evening."

"Didn't one of that lot get hitched or something?" Ranma asked.

"Yes Ranma" Nabiki responded, speaking slowly "Ami?" she prompted.

"Ami?" Ranma replied, "but isn't she, you know, one of those?" Nabiki patted his arm encouragingly.

"Well done Ranma" she said "that was almost politically correct. And yes she used to be a lesbian but it would appear that she was a little more bisexual than any of us thought."

"Oh" Ranma answered.

"And besides that after the night before last I really don't think that either of us are fit to criticise that particular leaning" she whispered into his ear breathily, pressing her chest up against his side. Ranma immediately went beetroot red and began stammering. Nabiki laughed and kissed him, stroking his pigtail with her delicate fingers.

From there on the two walked towards the destination with hands and arms linked and happy smiles on their faces, occasionally exchanging quick kisses. It took longer this way but neither was in a particular hurry.

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The door to Ukyo's loomed before the young family, like a cavernous entrance to hell. Already Genma's larger than life voice could be heard lecturing an occupant on some finer point of the harsh life a martial artist could expect. A loud dull double thud was the only answer. Nabiki looked at Ranma, he looked at her they clasped hands and stepped through the door.

Inside little had changed from their last visit, a panda lay slumped, Soun was bawling, Ukyo still stood behind the grill, Konatsu was still dressed in her traditional kimono, and the Neriman locals were acting as if two cross dressers and an aquatransforming panda were normal.

Soun leapt to his feet and attacked his daughter with a patented tendo-ryu fatherly glomp. But was stopped at arm's reach by Ranma's free arm.

"Careful gramps" he warned, "she's delicate." It took some time for Soun to process the hint and his daughter's smug smile, of course when he did it required that Ranma stop another attempted glomp. Thus thwarted he settled for full blown fountaining as only the Tendo patriarch could. Ranma, using a placemat as an emergency umbrella, quietly hustled his wife to the family table behind.

Rapid greetings were exchanged, the girls hugged and congratulated and Genma looked on with narrowed eyes. Ranma spotted his father's conspiratorial expression and threw a fork at him by way of a warning.

Of course the fork impacted quivering into the wall, but this being Nerima that wasn't quite enough, behind the wall was a pipe and that pipe in turn contained water. At that very moment Akane just happened to be walking in the front door, with predictable results; one angry and very wet young volcano.

"Who did that?" she demanded, readying her pervert crusher. She was immediately rewarded by the sight of the two Saotomes pointing at each other. Faced with a choice of perverts she decided to bash them both. Only suddenly she was stopped, the cold hard barrel of a personal hand cannon suddenly pressed against her forehead.

"Do not ever raise your hand near my family again" Ranma ordered, with icicles in his voice. The rest of the room fell deathly silent, even Akane getting enough of the message to stop what she was doing.

"Put it down!" Ranma commanded and Akane's mallet fell from her nerveless fingers. Ranma let a few moments pass and then un-cocked the weapon and put it down on the table, within easy reach. The gun hit the table with a resounding thud. Nabiki put her hand on her husband's arm, calming him, and reminding him he was among friends.

"Imouto-chan" Nabiki opened "I think I should warn you that my husband gets VERY protective when I am pregnant." Akane looked back and forth between her sister, Ranma and the gun, mouth flapping like a fish out of water. Soun burst into tears and Ukyo clapped.

"Well said Saotomes" she offered, "warnings don't work on her, but nice try anyway." After that she started serving, with an extra special selection for the eldest Saotomes.

Kimiko was by now both awake and causing trouble, she had decided that the cross dressing ninja was ever so amusing and was now chasing said transvestite around the shop with her own toy dinosaur. Why was the ninja running? Because that dinosaur was a very sticky dinosaur with all sorts of dress damaging substances on it. Of course being the child of Ranma Kimiko was doing a lot better at chasing than any toddler her age had a right to do.

"Help!" screamed the ninja dodging the sticky dinosaur of dress death again.

"So good of him to amuse little Kimi" cheered Ukyo, "I never knew he was so good with kids," Nabiki saw that it was mostly just teasing but she also spotted the subtext.

"So how about you?" Nabiki asked, "any sign of pattering feet?"

"Need a man first" Ukyo grumped, "Fancy lending me yours for a night or two?"

"Uh" Ranma replied negatively, suddenly alarmed.

"What sort of thing are you offering in return?" Nabiki asked, teasing her husband without even looking at him.

"I don't know what's he worth sugar?" Ukyo joined in, grabbing Ranma's face and inspecting his teeth.

"He's at least passable at his duties," Nabiki joked, "but sadly lacking when it comes to spontaneous romanticisms"

"Hey!" demanded Ranma, throwing off the chef's hand and turning to his wife, "I can too do spontaneous romantickisms! And what do you mean passable?" Nabiki leant over and kissed him, pinching his cheek at the same time.

"Prove me wrong stud" she whispered in his ear. Unfortunately for Ukyo this was a little loud and the very single chef overheard, and was treated to some mental images she could have done without.

Fortunately the timely arrival of the Onos gave her something else to concentrate on. With them they brought their kids and Tofu's mother. Kimi saw the other kids, they saw her, and they quickly found themselves helping her in her transvestite hunt. The eldest new arrivals took the spare seats and soon wre chatting away happily, swapping news and gossip.

Eventually the toddlers were sat down and given their own okonomykai to eat, giving the ninja a well-deserved break. Conversation continued for a while then Nabiki lightly smacked the back of Kimiko's hand.

"No Kimi" Nabiki said with a motherly expression on her face. Ranma looked over and added his own fatherly version.

"'m sorry mama, pappa" Kimi said, hanging her head.

"It's okay baby" Nabiki replied, "its easy to forget, isn't it." Kimiko nodded back with a toddler's version of a serious expression.

"What did she do?" Ukyo whispered to Ranma.

"Telepathy stuff" Ranma replied around his next mouthful. When he realised what he had said and spotted Ukyo's stunned expression he quickly added "er you'd better forget I said that."

"Are you saying that your CHILD is capable of mental whotsits?" Ukyo hissed.

"She's a lot better than me" Ranma answered conspiratorially. "hasn't got the training but whoo she'll give the big brains a run when she does."

"When she does?" Ukyo asked.

"Uh Ranma" Nabiki interrupted, "Lose lips…"

"Sink ships" Ranma finished, "sorry Ukyo, I shouldn't of said that much."

"Fine" said Ukyo, even though it wasn't. Every time she saw this family they seemed to get weirder, it was about time she started trying to find some normal friends.

Akane returned to the table with a sulk on, and it was only then that Ukyo put her absence together with the curious smell.

"What have you done to my kitchen?" she screamed, running to the grill, and drawing her fighting spat to kill the creature inhabiting it.

"Stupid grill" Akane muttered, "damn thing won't do microwave. So I added an isotope or two, so what…" she trailed off into incoherent mumbling, completely missing the silent stares of her surroundings.

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"You're seriously taking Kimiko with you" hissed Tofu "Are you mad?" he demanded. He was talking to Ranma at the table in Ukyo's, everyone else had either left for work or moved out to chase the kids playing in the main body of the restaurant. Only the doctor and Ranma had been left behind, and now Tofu was taking the opportunity to harangue Ranma. "What sort of monster are you?" he demanded.

Ranma's cool was starting to go, "The sort of monster who doesn't abandon his child. The sort of monster who doesn't trust his most loved to the care of others!" Ranma was all but barking his whispers and Tofu caught a piece of the same anger that had scared Akane. "I know you and Kasumi were looking forwards to having her, I know your opinions on how far your obligations go and I know what you think of those of us on the edge but I also know that this is a decision that only Nabiki and I are qualified to make."

"Steady Ranma, you have to think this through, I mean how-" Tofu began

"No Doc" Ranma interrupted, "I have thought this through. I have made the decision and I am going to stick to it."

"But-"

"No buts Tofu" Ranma disagreed, calming down, "a child's place is with their parents, both of them and in this case that means outer space."

"And if you all get killed?" Tofu asked with less than his normal equanimity.

"Then we die as a family" Ranma replied "doing what we need to do." And for a while the two sat in silence. Finally Ranma turned to Tofu, "Look Doc, I ain't tryin' to put you down, it's just your ways ain't mine ya know"

"Yes I think I do Ranma" Tofu replied, not really knowing at all, but at least he was trying.

"Just as you couldn't stay in the service I can't leave" Ranma explained.

"And when it's over?" Tofu asked.

"It'll never be over" Ranma replied half-ruefully and half something else.

As Ranma left to find his wife Tofu's own came back.

"Are you all right Tofu" she asked.

"Yes my love" he replied, "feeling pretty damn guilty but I'm all right."

"Ranma?" she asked, tucking is head in onto her shoulder.

"I don't know," Tofu replied, "everytime I talk to him he makes me feel bad for not going to war with the entire universe." She stroked his hair and held him tight. "Course with him running things we would probably win…"

"NO Tofu" Kasumi whispered emphatically, "you made the right choice for our children, for me and for you. You have nothing to feel guilty for."

"But-

"No buts my husband" she interrupted. "Trust me." And he did.

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"And then she spat up all over Weir's face" Nabiki finished, causing the other girls to burst into laughter again. Together with her normal crew plus a new selection of partners and spouses they were sat in a swanky Chinese restaurant and had finished eating some time ago. The various children had been left with babysitters or family, Nodoka in Kimiko's case, and all of Nabiki's old friends had managed to get together for a blowout. They were all dressed to kill, taking the opportunity to show off and wear clothes they found little enough time to wear.

The restaurant was in a basement below a big office block and was not really designed for such a large party. It was only coping with the help of nearly every family member of the owner, the only one spared being the six-week old new baby asleep upstairs.

Nabiki was having a great time, the food had been excellent the company was all she could hope for, and even the sake was top notch. She took a moment out to sit back and enjoy the moment, wrapping her oddly distracted husband's arms around her and relaxing into his embrace. Even with the anxiety of the big mission coming she was managing to really relax and it felt good.

Eventually it was the baby that made the decision, Jess's high pitch laughter woke the child and the party took that as their cue to head on. Outside it was a brisk spring night and the group soon faced the eternal question of whether to go on or not. In the end Nabiki swung it and they were all off for some nostalgia at Dante's .

Only when they arrived it wasn't the same. Instead of the gorilla-men that the place used to employ there were two well dressed small men. They looked decidedly less than useful until Ranma pointed out the bulges in their jackets. Then Ami noticed the tattoo peeking out from one's cuffs and the group knew all they needed to know. By then of course it was a little late and half the party was already inside. The rest of the group had little choice but to join them, and so they did, with Ranma getting a thorough eyeballing on the way past.

Inside things were distinctly downmarket of where they had been. Nabiki and Jess spotted at least two dealers on the way across the room, and more than one dancer was too far gone to keep the rhythm.

"Uh guys" Nabiki called to the others, "Lets not hang around"

"Nah, this was your idea" Jess drunkenly argued, "Besides we've got Ranma with us and he'll protect us from the nasty men."

"And we have already paid…" Ami offered.

"One dance" Nabiki pleaded.

"Okay spoilsport" Jess agreed, "only one dance." Ranma meanwhile was still looking around, getting that itchy feeling that spoke of imminent fighting. He just couldn't spot where it was going to come from. There were plenty of people packing weapons, mostly knives and blunt thins but far too many guns for comfort. The clientele here were obviously the sort of people who didn't care that guns were hard to get hold of and were secure enough about their liberty to carry their heat on a daily basis.

"Not good" he muttered, sobering as fast as he could and drawing Nabiki aside. With an almost imperceptible nod he drew her attention to a small group of well dressed hoods heading their way. Nabiki stepped half in front of him, covering his arm in case he needed to draw and set her mask into place.

The effort was entirely wasted; nothing could have prepared her for seeing Kinnosuke again. The man had literally wrecked a portion of her life and seeing him this side of hell could never be welcome.

"Hello Nabs" he leered, "I heard you had skipped town." The man was still as smooth as ever, but his sharp suit and semi-hidden tattoos clearly marked the level he had fallen to. Or risen to if the respect the gorillas around him were offering was any indicator. "Who's the boytoy? Another punter?" he taunted, and she had to fight the urge to rip his head clean off.

"My name Is Saotome Ranma and whatever business you had with my wife is ancient history" Ranma warned in an even voice, letting his emotions drain away. Nabiki recognised the change and took a half step closer to her husband.

"Kinnosuke" spat Jess, unintentionally defusing things for the moment "I thought you crawled back under your wet rock."

"Ah Jess" the Yakuza man drawled, "You are looking good"

"No thanks to you pig!" she spat.

"I heard you got clean" he replied as if he hadn't noticed the raw hate in her voice. "I like girls with spirit."

"Fuck you!" she swore, "You lay one finger on me and I'll…"

"You'll what whore?" he demanded, suddenly angry. "As if a two bit slut like you could…." He trailed off, disconcerted by the way the well built man suddenly loomed larger.

"All she has to do" Ranma whispered just loud enough to carry "is say the word" he finished in a voice cold enough to chill icewater. Kinnosuke looked at the man and suddenly decided it wasn't worth the effort.

"Call me" he jeered, turning and leaving, his hyenas laughing all the way.

Ranma turned to Nabiki who declined to answer, instead clicking her fingers to round up the others. So instead Ranma turned to Jess.

"Not now, later" she said, shaking slightly. "For now just believe me that shit is bad news."

They left, and found another club, further upmarket than even Dante's had used to be. There they drank, danced and partied well into the night. The previous cold seemed to evaporate and even the unpleasant aftertaste was washed away with enough effort. By the time they started to leave for home dawn was threatening and tired smiles were universal.

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Ranma and Nabiki caught a taxi and were soon ensconced in their ultra comfortable expensive-but-worth-it hotel room. As the sandman drew closer Ranma gently asked "Anata, Kinnosuke?"

"It was a very bad part of my life" she whispered looking up at his face, "he swept in and showed me a different kind of world, and for a while everything was fantastic, exciting. We weren't in love or anything but we did do all sorts of things like we were..."

"Drugs?" Ranma asked, she nodded, her eyes tearing up.

"And then one time I wake up in this strange bed with a man I didn't know and I realise my life is going to shit. I got out, and pulled myself back from the edge."

"Your family?"

"Never cared enough to ask, or cared too much to do so. Whatever, I ended up doing cold turkey and seeing all sorts of doctors on the sly to clean myself up."

"It hurt"

"More than I ever want to remember, there were days when I wanted to run back to him and bury myself in his filth because it was easier than going on."

"But you didn't" Ranma whispered, kissing her. She offered a smile in return.

"A Saotome never surrenders" she said. "In the end I won, it was me who helped pull Jess out of his grasp, me who broke up his operation and me who put the police on his tail."

"So you didn't just win" Ranma said "You beat him."

"Yeah I did" she said with a smile.

"Shows what a tough old boot you- OW-" he said, being interrupted by her yanking on his pigtail.

"Old?" she asked, with mock menace. "That coming from passable-san"

"OI!" he said. And from somewhere they found the energy.

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Kinnosuke was just tidying his office for the last time before he left for the 'night' and reminiscing about the strange meetings of the evening. That Tendo girl really stuck in his craw, she should never have been able to get away and it really annoyed him that he had called that one wrong. She could have been a really good earner when properly 'trained' and instead he was pretty sure the bitch had cost him his entire operation. It was her fault that he had had to sell out to the Yaks and her fault that his family school died. And now the bitch had the temerity to be rich, happy, married and stunning; it just would not do. He stepped out of his office, into the mirrored lounge, ignoring the idiot girls who his men were 'grooming' lying as they were in comatose heaps. He called his minder away from the recording camera and told him to get everyone else moving, himself picking his way across the room.

Then the door opened, the door behind him, the door to his empty office. A sudden chill ran down his spine and he had to force himself to turn. Standing there was the man from the dancefloor. "What do you want?" he asked.

"I decided not to wait for the word" the intruder offered in that glacial tone, stepping into the room as if he owned it. Kinnosuke waved a hand and two of the thugs rushed the big man.

Ranma ducked left and under the first wild swing and followed up with a powerful knee to the guts. The hood went down puking his guts and gasping for air. The second one was nowhere near so lucky. As he swung for Ranma the pigtailed soldier intercepted the arm and shattered it. In one quick combination the man lost the use of half his body and found himself flying across the room to block the far door.

Kinnosuke drew his pistol and his minder did the same. Rather than cower in fear the nut job attacker with the pigtail just raised an eyebrow and started walking closer. Kinnosuke thrust out the gun to firing extension and let loose a burst of rounds, only the Pigtailed man wasn't there anymore. Instead he was dropping in from above, somehow having leapt at just the right moment.

The soldier-agent landed, and in doing so took control of Kinnosuke's gun arm. The minder, somewhat slower to react than his boss suddenly found himself in a Mexican standoff with his boss.

The minder's last sight was the cold expression on the intruder's face as he forced his boss to squeeze off the rounds that destroyed first his face and then blew out the back of his skull.

Kinnosuke was really scared now, the sight of his minder's gun pointed at his face was bad enough but seeing the man's face dissolve really finished off his rational thought. He was swung face first into the wall behind. The impact drove the wind out of him and was suddenly coupled with the splintering of his right arm. Pain replaced fear, and Kinnosuke momentarily blacked out.

As he came to the man's forearm was pressed into his neck and exerting just enough pressure to flex the vertebrae.

"Please!" Kinnosuke begged, "Please" he cried, warm liquid running down his leg from his loosened bowels.

"No" Ranma whispered and the last sound Kinnosuke heard was his own neck.


	2. Leaving

**Chapter 2. Leaving**.

As Ranma returned to their hotel room Nabiki looked up at him muzzily, "Where've you been?" she asked. Raising her beautiful sleepy head just enough.

"For a walk n' things" he replied, stripping and climbing back into bed. Sleepy as she was the answer satisfied her and rather than question him further she shifted to let him wrap an arm around her and settled back into her doze.

Only neither managed much sleep, sirens awoke them barely ten minutes later. The sounds of shouting soon followed. Once more the sceptre of civil unrest was raising its head, and making itself heard. Tokyo was better off than most world capitals but only in Nerima were things as calm as they had been before. Calm being a comparative term. Here on the edge of the ward curfews were still in place and the SDF still backed up the civilian police forces.

Ranma stumbled over to the window to look and Nabiki flicked on he news channel. It was a group of Nihilist bikers attempting to get clear of their cordon. The SDF had boxed them into a badly damaged block a week ago and were now being forced to enforce the ruling.

Soon the meeting dissolved from hurled words to hurled rocks and shortly after that the gunplay started. Ranma shook his head and returned to bed, idly stroking his wife's back while she flicked through the news channels. She in turn relaxed into his caress.

"Hardly makes you sad to leave does it" she whispered ruefully.

"Nerima's still quiet" Ranma reassured her. "Its probably the heirs to Riot-fu are too young to claim the title or something equally as silly."

o

Elsewhere a kindergarden once more erupted into civil unrest as the toddlers led by Ruri the Rioter clashed with Polly's pre-school policepersons. The two leaders were momentarily distracted by sneezing fits but fortunately the nursery staff managed to get tissues to them in time before the 'riot foam' coated too many others.

_o_

Ranma and Nabiki were in the process of checking out when the 'unrest' reached them. They were at the desk of the well-appointed lobby, its tall ceiling was held up with marble columns and wide open space partly filled with lounge chairs and tables. All of a sudden that spacious lobby was in tumult, shots rang out and screams answered. Not taking any chances Ranma lifted Nabiki bodily over the check-in desk and hefted their gear after her.

Seven bikers had forced their way in through the front doors and already neutralised the hotel lobby guards. They were in the process of setting up a defensive position out of the tables and couches, and taking hostages. One suited wannabe tried to tackle one only to be introduced to the knife of that biker's best mate, point first.

"Stay down Ranma!" Nabiki advised gently, pulling him below the level of the desktop. Then she saw the look on his face and knew she had lost this one. She pulled him in for a kiss and let him do his thing. "Be careful hero" she whispered. He offered her a smile as if to ask when exactly he wasn't careful but didn't dare voice the question.

Instead Ranma hurled himself over the counter and drew his sidearm at the same time. As he leapt he used the pistol to track the intruders, looking for the most opportune target. One biker turned to face the movement; he never saw the shot that tore his chest to gore. His friends however heard the shot and wheeled on the running agent.

Ranma slammed his back against the marble pillar, rounds ricocheting around him. He could almost hear his old instructor's disapproval. The sour old geezer had always maintained that you had messed up from the first moment they ever shot back.

"Yeah well" Ranma muttered, glancing quickly around his pillar, "where's the fun in that?" He peeled right, diving for the underside of a large stone table. As he flew through the air he ripped off a pair of rounds, the first missed the lucky biker who had chosen the perfect moment to hike up his trousers, the second tore the lucky man's buddy's head off, shattering bone into flying fragments.

Under the table Ranma quickly heaved and overturned his new cover, only to find that some smart-ass had set pins into the table legs to stop it moving. He quickly added the extra effort and lifted it the required extra distance before toppling it onto its side. Just in time as three bullets impacted into the newly flat surface.

"Did he just throw that table?" the receptionist asked Nabiki amazed at the feat, "it must weigh a ton!"

"He's just showing off" Nabiki groused, idly flicking through the register for old times sake. She heard the loud report of his pistol twice more and the answering wet crunches of twin impacts. "We are in a hurry!" she called out to him "I want to be at your mother's for lunch!"

"Sure Anata" he called back, readying himself for another manoeuvre. The receptionist looked at Nabiki with big eyes.

"You know him?" she asked in awe.

"I'm married to him," Nabiki replied.

"You're so lucky" the girl added, "he's a dreamboat"

"Dreamboat?" Nabiki queried, "do people actually say that?"

"Well a hunk then" the girl corrected.

"And he's a stallion in bed" Nabiki added, just to see the girl's reaction. The poor receptionist all but set up a shrine to him then and there.

Meanwhile the three remaining bikers had fled back into the street, and the waiting arms of the Japanese military.

Nabiki signed out, handed the lusting girl the room card and led Ranma out through the kitchen. By the time the police had secured the lobby there was no sign of either of them. And the only real witness was babbling things about angels in human form and hunky not-boats.

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Lunch at Nodoka's was a subdued affair. The couple had indeed been late, mainly because Ranma had been so very excitable after his morning 'work-out' and insisted on some very public displays of affection. Nabiki had really missed his playful side over the last few weeks and was perhaps more tolerant than she should have been. Hence they were late, and somewhat more mussed than Nabiki had planned on.

Nodoka had of course been very polite about it but her disapproval was thinly veiled and made Ranma fidget all through the meal. Either that or the reminders of Ryu's habitation were twinging on his conscience. The whole house had been altered to be wheelchair friendly. From a ramp on the front door to the removal of most of the tatami mats, every consideration had been made for the crippled young man.

Kimiko had decided she loved the design, clear open wheelchair routes made for great runways, and hand-rails seemed to be made for swinging on. Without steps to hinder her Kimiko had been having a great time exploring the house. The shortness that Nodoka exhibited with the girl's parents was at least partly the child's fault. Nodoka was feeling old, and the irrepressible Kimiko made her feel older still.

The child in question was currently hurtling in a collision course with her mother, having 'skydropped' all the way down the largest ramp in the house. Nabiki, long used to her girl's antics, caught her with one arm and passed her over to Ranma with a small kiss to see her on her way. Ranma was more than happy for the distraction, the two women were freaking him out more than a little with their 'polite' conversation and it was starting to make his skin crawl.

With a nod to his mother and wife he carried the giggling infant out into the yard, all the while doing his best 'evil galactic overlord' voice. Both the older girls looked after them sharing an almost identical smile.

"He's great with her," Nodoka observed.

"They're a lot alike" Nabiki joked.

"He bounces off the walls all day too?" Nodoka asked deadpan.

"Walls, ceilings, pillars…." Nabiki lamented as sincerely as she could through her smile. From outside came the noise of Ranma 'dying' loudly, and calling down generational curses upon the 'brave warrior woman' who had defeated him. Both the women shared a look and another smile.

"So this thing you are doing its dangerous?" Nodoka asked growing more serious.

"Rather" Nabiki replied, still trying for levity.

"And you don't know how long its going to take?" Nodoka prodded.

"We know that it will be at least a year, beyond that" Nabiki finished with a shrug.

"And my son's part in things?" Nodoka kept digging, and Nabiki was starting to wonder what the real question was.

"He's found his way to the sharp end," Nabiki replied, her eyes narrowing speculatively. In the moment's pause afterwards she decided that she simply did not have to play this game, "Mother, please just ask, if I can tell you I will." Nodoka reached out and touched her daughter in law's arm.

"Thank you" the grandmother offered, "What I am trying to ask is…"

"Are we coming back?" Nabiki guessed. Nodoka nodded in reply. "You're worried that this will be like the last time you saw your family walk away." Nodoka nodded again fighting her rebellious emotions. "I can't say" Nabiki offered quietly. "I won't lie to you, if Ranma wasn't so sure about this I wouldn't be touching it with a ten foot stick. Everything about this mission scares the hell out of me and I'm the one in charge of it." Nabiki picked up her mother in law's hand. "But I will promise that if we can come back we will."

"Thank you daughter" she replied with feeling. "Now lets go and check my boy isn't raising that girl too wild." Nodoka stood up and started towards the yard, she was just too far away to hear Nabiki's reply.

"Too late."

o

o

o

o

"I don't know about this Saotome" Soun told his bosom buddy again.

"It's our, I mean our school's, only hope" replied Genma, making the correction as fast as he could. They were hiding opposite Genma's ex-wife's home, concealed in a clutch of rubbish bins, a very smelly clutch.

"But…"

"No Soun ol-buddy, this has to be done," Genma insisted. "If that boy isn't brought to heel Anything Goes is finished"

"But Akane, you've trained her and she-

"Is only a girl" Genma hissed, "and can never be expected to master the finer points of the art."

"You mean?"

"The master will choose one of us as his heir!" Genma finished, causing a massive shudder that rattled both cans.

"What are you two whispering about?" demanded the third bin, in the voice of a spoilt princess. "Do I go now?"

"NO!" cried the other bins. They had answered the question before more than a few times.

"Rasa-fasa umumble mumble" Akane grumbled.

"She's our only hope" Genma reminded his friend, and they all fell silent.

A few long hours later the first bin spotted the young Saotome family leaving and hissed unsuccessfully for the attention of the now snoring bin net to him. So Genma had to wake Soun the hard way, and then the sore headed Soun had to get Akane's attention, which of course had wandered now it was finally required.

o

o

o

o

Ranma and Nabiki met the others at a military airfield just outside Tokyo. The orbital lifter would be crammed with nearly thirty people lifting for the low Earth orbit Crystal Palace Station at La Grange point one. From there they would be transferred to an interplanetary liner that was little more than a life support rigged brick with thrusters.

The other passengers were almost entirely 'Dark Angels' on their way to take up their posts aboard the Nemesis. They ranged from grease monkeys to bridge bunnies and represented a complete age spectrum. The only unifying factor was that they were overwhelmingly still green as grass in comparison to the people who normally wore the proud badge of X-Com.

"Grass" Ranma muttered.

"Green as" Nabiki agreed

The couple were veterans of two invasions and years of service. It came as quite a shock to Nabiki to realise that her daughter had been on the books longer than most of these 'crew,' and even more disconcerting was the moment she realised that she was an old hand even at her age.

"Ranma, I am getting old," she declared.

"Anata?" he queried, "whatcha mean? You spent more time in the goop tanks than I have." Nabiki slapped his arm tenderly.

"You're meant to say you hadn't noticed" she corrected.

"I thought I just did" he groused.

"AND," she continued, "say something nice about how I look!"

"Oh" he replied, in his best 'thick as a brick' voice. "What do Ranma say?" he wondered aloud, "Ranma must think!" Nabiki gave him a mock glare, belied by the glint in her eyes and the curl of her lip. That playful side was just so very precious. "Ranma know!" he announced. She had time enough to wonder what exactly he knew before her husband swept her up into a very passionate embrace. It went on for some time.

"Dadda?" Kimiko queried, "Whatcha doin'"

"Er, your mummy had something caught in her throat and I was-"

"Ranma" Nabiki growled, glaring. "We do not lie to our child!"

"Er" Ranma came up short, "forget that Kimi-chan," he corrected. "Its one of those grown up things you have to wait to know."

"Okey Dokey" she replied, looking for someone to play with.

"Hero" Nabiki whispered, "I think its about time you did your thing…"

"Fine" grumped the Pigtailed man. He turned to Kimiko "Stay here with mommy okay, daddy's gotta go change"

"Okey Dokey" she replied, grabbing her mummy's hand. Seeing she was safe Ranma wandered off to find an ice machine and a towel.

It was while Nabiki was watching his fine ass walk away that she caught sight of the mirage for the first time. Just for a moment, out of the corner of her eye she could have sworn that she saw her sister. But there was no way that she would have missed Akane being put onto the flight roster, so she dismissed it.

The two girls were distracted by the arrival of Colonel Misato Katsuragi. She was, as usual after shore leave, very drunk, very drunk indeed. Nabiki knew the woman had a drinking problem, it was written all over her reports, but also knew just how valuable the woman's real skill was going to be. Having read the girl's dossier Nabiki could understand every moment of it.

"Occifer on deck hut!" screamed the drunken tactical officer, throwing a very wobbly salute at Nabiki. This immediately drew everyone's attention to the target of the salute. Nabiki had to fight the urge to curse, just a few more minutes of civilian life was obviously too much to ask. Nabiki was about to return the salute, only to find her hand occupied holding Kimiko's hand. The child looked up at her mom, back at the drunken officer and decided to salute.

"Shorry Ma'am" Misato attempted, looking at the child "didn't shee you weren't in uni-from" She dropped her arm and almost overbalanced doing it.

"'S okey dokey" Kimiko informed her.

"Sank you Ma'am" Misato managed, "Immm gonna fall down fer a while" she added and then keeled over, into the arms of a well built man. "Hiya handsome!" she whispered and promptly fell asleep.

"Did I miss anything" Ranma, now Ranko, asked, slipping her arm around her wife's waist.

"Saotome Ranko meet Katsuragi Misato, Colonel, and my XO." Nabiki introduced her husband to the comatose woman cradled in the mechanic's arms.

"Ain't she the one who…" Ranma asked.

"Yes she is" Nabiki replied.

"Whooo, she's one hard chick!" Ranma whistled respectfully. "What's wrong with her?"

"Sauce" Nabiki explained. Then realised that Ranma had no idea what she was talking about. "She drinks" Nabiki added.

"Oh," Ranma replied, finally getting it, "No wonder."

"Poppa's a momma again" observed Kimiko, without a hint of surprise.

"Now Kimi-chan" Nabiki started, squatting to bring her face level with her daughter's "what did we say about when daddy looks like this?"

"He's Auntie Ranko" Kimiko replied "and daddy's not here."

"Thank you Kimi-chan" Nabiki replied, kissing her daughter's cheek. "And why do we do this"

"Cuz not everyone's as lucky as me" Kimiko explained cheerfully, "I got extra helpings."

"No-" Nabiki began to correct but Ranma interrupted with her own hand.

"That'll do Biki-chan" Ranma said, "she knows the other reason too" he turned to Kimiko to receive her nod, "no point in overdoing it." Nabiki nodded and kissed her daughter again, and then accepted Ranma's hand to help her upright. She found herself trapped in the smaller girl's embrace.

"Ranma" she whispered, admonishingly.

"Anata" Ranma replied, "I am NOT going to keep my hands off you just because people can see!" Nabiki looked into her lover's brilliant blue eyes and knew this was important. So she leant in and kissed her husband very thoroughly.

"Happy?" she whispered breathily as they finally broke.

"Uh-huh" agreed the slightly stunned redhead. Nabiki smiled and let her go, giving her a little pat on the rump for good measure.

o

o

o

o

Ten hours later Crystal Palace station was falling away behind the IPV Hermes on its way out to Mars. Its beautiful mirrored collectors making it shine like an angel in the night sky, framed by the orb of the retreating Earth.

Inside the inter planetary vessel people were once again unstrapping after boost off and reforming into their groups. The 'groundhogs' with less space-time quickly separated from the 'boomers' who had real micro gravity experience. Zero gravity would be a constant factor till Mars orbit was reached and it was going to take some a bit longer than others to get used to.

The interior of the vessel was basically open plan, with bunks racked up along the walls and ladders circling in between. There were access hatches and wash facilities down at each end. But for old hands like the Saotome's the real passageway was running down the centre of the hold. Simple rules about clockwise movement allowed almost unregulated unpowered transit down the central 'highway.'

Nabiki had quickly staked out a family bunk area near the pilot's end, and the toilets, and was once again trying to persuade Kimiko to use a bed. The girl was always troublesome when it came to beds. Even on Mars the toddler had got her best sleep in the micro-gravity rooms. The moment the kid hit zero-G she seemed at home. In a weightless enviroment, especially one padded for groundhogs, the little girl could, and frequently did, fall asleep almost anywhere. Currently Nabiki was prying her off a ladder. The toddler, tired out by all the fun sights of Crystal Palace, had fallen asleep almost as soon as she had found a handhold. When Nabiki found her she was happily dozing, attached to the wall only by one hand and with the other happily spread for ease of sucking.

Nabiki's insistence on beds was hardly a new thing, and was one of those things that Ranma tried to keep quiet about. As far as he was concerned the babe was happy with her arm anchor, and was hardly about to fall anywhere, so he would have let her be. After all it sure beat some of the places he had slept over the years. But the child's mother wanted to train her not to fall asleep hanging out over bottomless drops by only her own arm so he didn't interefere. Although quite how Nabiki could pull the girl out of a pose that cute was beyond him.

"I didn't have the heart" Nabiki told her, having given in and let the child sleep as she wanted. "But don't think that means I've given up for good!" Ranma nodded sagely, hiding his smile, "And don't think for a moment that I don't know where she learnt bad habits like that!"

Ranma answered with a mock innocent expression that fooled nobody.


	3. Nemesis

**Chapter 3: Nemesis.**

Deep within the hollow core of Deimos base the great shipyard of Mars lurked like a termite mound that only seemed calm. Inside the next generation of system defence craft were being constructed form the latest generation of hybrid materials and using the latest hybrid technology.

However the star of the show was still Nemesis. Her sleek blade like cross-section and oversized engines giving every appearance of the huntress she was. Turrets blistered her surface, and the mouth of her central meson accelerator cannon stood wide like the proverbial dragon's mouth. She had been painted with sensor resistant matt colours, designed to slip below almost any type of detection. She bore no identifier, no number only a ten-foot tall picture of a sword-bearing angel with black wings.

As the Hermes swung along her side the sheer size of the beast came home to many for the first time. She was huge, easily the match for a full sized aircraft carrier, and her docking bay swallowed the Hermes with very little trouble indeed.

"That's no moon" muttered one man, and was slapped for his effort.

"I'll give you a disturbance if you so much as breathe another line!" warned the man's friend, a pretty redhead in an X-Com interceptor pilot's dress uniform.

"Imperial scum" the man replied, ducking away into the crowd.

"There you are hero," Nabiki said, wrapping an arm around her husband-turned wife. She too was dressed in full number one order. Of course she had had the practical trousers swapped for a sexy skirt and had the jacket altered to follow her form better but rank hath its privileges. Of course she also wore an array of medals and the bright shiny insignia of a full Colonel. "Who were you talking to?"

"Han bloody Solo" Ranma replied, still grumpy. Nabiki kissed him once more and together they watched the final set down. Soon everywhere around them the occupants began to file out, organised offloading looking very like chaotic shoving.

"Last chance babe" Ranma whispered, holding the love of his/her life.

"Wherever you go" she began.

"There you'll be" Ranma finished, kissing her.

"What about you?" Nabiki asked, "second thoughts?"

"Only about the bloody bra!" Ranma groused, fidgeting. "Don't know how you lot do this all the time"

"What can I say we're the best" Nabiki teased. Ranma favoured her with a mock scowl and chased her to a wall before tickling her mercilessly.

"Steal my line will you?" the cursed man demanded, going in for her ribs.

"Mutiny! Insubordination!" she cried, around the giggles "Infamy, Infamy they've all got it in for me!"

"Ooh" Ranma moaned, "that's older than you!"

"UH!" Nabiki complained, grabbing her by the pigtail, "what did you say lieutenant?"

"You are more beautiful than anyone I have ever met," Ranma rushed, "and get more beautiful every day. I just wish I had your looks!" Nabiki silenced her with a kiss.

"You do dummy!" she offered, giving the smaller girl's left breast a squeeze for emphasis.

"Er' Colonel?" asked a tentative voice. A marine was stood not two feet away, trying hard not to stare at the two beauties fooling about and silently damning his own professionalism for making him interrupt. "They are waiting to pipe you aboard."

"Carry on marine" Nabiki ordered, not letting go of her partner. "I'll be right there.." Ranma kissed her one more time and left to collect their gear and child from the couple who had been minding them.

o

o

Nabiki stood just inside the open hatch that led to the hangar deck. Ranma had left just ahead of her and would already be taking his place among the pilots below. Nabiki could hear the hushed murmurs of the crowd below and forced herself to be calm. She knew this ceremony was important to them and knew that for many of them the next few minutes would decide forever how they treated her forevermore.

She straightened her jacket, sucked in a large breath and stepped out. Immediately the bosuns' whistles piped up and the marine fifers and drummers joined seconds later. Nabiki strode down the ramp as if such things happened to her every other day, her face an unreadable mask of calm.

The crowd at the bottom consisted of all the assigned crew that would make up the Dark Angels of Earth. There were pilots, marines, scientists and techies, sailors and engineers, psychics and shrinks. All of them were arrayed in their best ceremonial dress, watching their commander take possession of the most dangerous weapon Earthmen had ever built.

Nabiki walked straight onto the raised area that comprised the loading level, where the interim commander stood waiting. She briefly turned to face the assembled mass and let a smile come to her face, adding a modest nod of acknowledgement. The music stopped, the commander offered her his hand. Nabiki shook it firmly and let him step away before turning back to the crowd. They burst into applause, and Nabiki quietly waited it out, (idly noting that the wolf whistles seemed to be coming from the pilot's area).

"Warriors of Earth" she began in a clear calm voice, "for all who serve aboard this vessel are truly worthy of that title, I thank you for your welcome and for your confidence.

There is an old tradition from the days of wooden hulls that a new Captain should be 'read in' when they take command of a vessel. I will not be doing that, each of you has already been briefed on the seriousness of the threat we face, and each one of you already knows what will be expected of you. I will not question your devotion to duty nor your dedication to the cause. Instead I will tell you about the great thing that we are doing right now.

Today we are assembled for the first time as a full crew, and it makes me very glad indeed to see this come to pass. From this moment on we are no longer individuals struggling alone but instead we are a team. A solid unit dedicated and resolute. Today we forge a weapon to strike the enemy harder than they have ever been hit before. There is a new power in the universe and it is the Dark Angel Nemesis!"

The crowd burst into wild applause, hooting and whistling their approval. Nabiki accepted their praise and held out her arms to offer it back to them. As she turned through the half circle she caught Ranma's eye and received a big smile and a 'thumbs up' and at that moment she knew she had told the truth.

o

o

o

The crew quickly broke up back to their duties, Nabiki was quickly, and unnecessarily, guided to the officers' mess, where a reception was laid on. Of course Misato was there ahead of her, and already had a drink in each hand by the time Nabiki stepped through the doors. One by one she was formally re-introduced to the ship's officers. Each one parading in front of her for just long enough to exchange a few words and a handshake. She knew them all by report of course but the pictures provided never did any justice to the subjects' faces so Nabiki had to use every trick she knew to put the names to faces.

Some people immediately stood out. First there was Lieutenant Colonel Everett, in charge of the marines. The dossier had mentioned he was older but she really hadn't expected this grey haired throwback. He had earned a reputation for being 'gung ho' and hard to get along with but Nabiki had been sure that he would fall into line soon enough. Instead she had been met with thinly veiled scorn. Whether it was chauvinism or ageism she didn't know, or care. He was definitely going to be a problem. The next was an officer called Kaji Ryoji, he was going to be a problem for completely different reasons. The guy was smooth, real smooth, and had taken all of six seconds to start to hit on her. But Misato's glare was all the warning Nabiki needed to know that there was more going on than just one guy who thought too much of himself.

As the operational officers made way for the support staff Nabiki had to face another meeting she had been dreading, Kuno Kodachi. The doctor had pulled a wide array of strings and Nabiki had been given little choice but to accept her as crew. The crazy woman ay have been a few bricks short of a stack but was still by far the smartest, most versatile scientist X-Com had.

"Nabiki" the Black Rose purred. "You are looking….exquisite!"

"Thank you Doctor" Nabiki replied, "You are looking well yourself."

"You like it?" Kodachi replied, waving a hand down the slinky black dress and extending one flawless leg to show just how far up the side slit went. "Its just something I had lying around" she lied.

"It is suits you" Nabiki replied, wondering what was going through the madwoman's corkscrew mind. "It goes well with your eyes." Kodachi leaned in closer.

"And with your carpet" the doctor whispered breathily.

"Really " Nabiki answered, trying to but some time. She had honestly thought this phase over with. "Maybe I'll ask to borrow it sometime?"

"Of course Nabiki" Kodachi replied with a twinkle in her eyes "after all friends should share." It was then that Nabiki connected the dots. Kodachi obviously knew that 'Ranko' was aboard and more than that, seemed to know that the redhead and her were an item.

"I'll look forward to it" the madwoman continued, and Nabiki had just enough time to wince before the laugh arrived, "OHOOOHHOHOHHOHOHO!" fortunately by the time the girl stopped for breath Nabiki had managed to slip away, and the doctor was chasing another 'toy.'

o

o

o

o

Having dropped Kimiko off at the 'crèche.' 'Ranko' was setting up in the pilot's quarters. And was not having a good time doing it. In the time it had taken to pick a bunk near the door and acquire a locker already three separate guys had hit on 'her' and a fourth was clearly lining up his shot.

"Hi there, do you want a hand with that?" the blond man offered, trying to unobtrusively stare at her breasts.

"My bag or my tits?" Ranma asked, "and no thanks."

"OW" the man recoiled.

"Look mate it ain't personal" Ranma continued, wary that she had to get on with these people.

"It isn't?" he asked.

"I just don't swing that way…" Ranma explained. The guy had to think about it for a moment then broke into a big smile.

"Hey no worries" he replied, "Only difference between a dyke and a hottie is six inch-

"And where are you going to find that much?" Ranma demanded, twisting the idiot's tackle in a vice grip. "Go away!" she hissed and dropped the man, who waddled for safety as fast as he could..

"Nice put-down!" came a girl's voice from behind Ranma, it also had a decidedly Japanese lilt to it. Ranma turned to see who talked, to be rewarded by the sight of a very fetching dark-haired asian girl, wearing a tight muscle top and flight pants. "Hikari" the girl said, offering a hand in the western fashion.

"Ranko" Ranma replied. "Please tell me he learns fast."

"Fraid not" the girl disagreed. "He'll be back."

"Damn, and I so wanted to avoid the brig for a few nights" Ranma lamented. The girl snorted in reply, a half smile appearing.

"Then just make sure you don't get caught," Hikari offered, "or you could hide in my bunk…."

"Damn! What are they putting in the water 'round here" Ranma thought. "Uh, I'm sorta spoken for…"

"Oh well" Hikari replied. "If you ever need a shoulder or a sympathy screw…."

"Er thanks, I think." Ranma answered. "Okinawa was not like this!" he muttered.

"How would you know" came a voice with a Scottish lilt, "your face was buried in Shampoo's so much I doubt you could even tell me the colour of the walls."

"Laura!" Ranma exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around her friend.

"Hey!" Laura objected, "That sort of thing can get a girl a reputation you know!"

"Shuddup bitch" Ranma ordered with a smile  
"What was that Lieutenant?" Laura demanded.

"I said shut up sergeant!" Ranma answred.

"That is Master Sergeant Major to you little puke!" Laura yelled back.

"Yes ma'am" Ranma replied with a formal salute.

"Less of that, I work for a living" Laura stopped him. They stood for a few moments sharing a smile, and a memory.

"So how are the troops?" Ranma asked

"Honestly, they are so wet behind the ears I wouldn't be surprised to find their mummies here washing them" she groused. "What I wouldn't give for a few Alpha's."

"You got me" Ranma offered.

"Don't joke about it" Laura argued. "The first time these kids get stuck in we are going to lose half of them."

"Ow"

"And there's worse, guess who's got the baton" she continued

"Nabiki told me but I didn't know the name" Ranma answered.

"That's cuz we usec to call him something else," Laura prompted.

"Wait, you don't mean?" Ranma guessed with disbelief. "but I thought they took him off active service!"

"That's right we got Colonel 'enemy action' Everett," Laura confirmed, "and they fixed his damn leg"

"Shit"

"Double shit" Laura agreed.

"We gotta do something" Ranma asserted.

"I am" Laura replied, with a smile "I'm telling you!"

"What happened to shit rolling downhill?" Ranma asked ruefully.

"Don't apply to Alpha's" Laura replied. "Your ego attracts it instead."

o

o

o

Nabiki had finally found the time to take her seat behind her desk in her very own ready room. She sank into the cushioned seat with a sigh, genuinely relieved that for the moment the meet and greet seemed to be over. It was only then that she noticed her computer was flashing a marker for a waiting message.

With a raised eyebrow she called it up, but even as she did she knew it wasn't going to be good news.

_I did everything I could.  
You have to take her.  
Really not my fault._

_Did I mention I did everything I could?  
And that its not my fault! _

It was unmistakably Jack's message and Nabiki had a really bad feeling that she knew just who it referred to.

The comms chimed.

"Captain I have a message from a Doctor Weir requesting leave to embark her party."

"Damn!" swore Nabiki and she really meant it.


	4. The calm before

**Chapter 4: To Cast off that which we know.**

"This is a surprise doctor," Nabiki said, hiding her anger behind a mask of indifference. Internally she was fuming, this woman should not have been able to get here without Nabiki knowing. Worse than that the damn woman had gone over her head and got herself assigned to her ship. Nabiki may not have been as xenophobic as her husband but she shared his opinions about civilian interference. Dr. Weir was neither wanted nor expected. Yet here she stood.

"I am sorry about that Colonel-"

"Captain" Nabiki corrected. "Aboard my ship I am called either Ma'am or Captain, I have earned that right. If you are to accompany us you will learn the correct etiquette. You will show me the proper respect at all times. Aboard this ship I am the final authority, and, as far as you are concerned, am answerable only to god!"

"We'll see Captain" Weir replied, with a trace of venom.

"NO we won't Weir" Nabiki retorted, deliberately dropping the title. "The moment you step aboard MY ship you are under my command, civilian or not. It doesn't matter if you are the vice president of America or the Lord High Executioner of China, or for that matter even an envoy from the Kami, aboard MY ship you are either a crewmember or a passenger! Either way when I say jump you bloody well comply, Kapish?"

"Yes Captain I think I understand you very well," Weir replied stonily, eyes narrowing.

"Very well then doctor," Nabiki continued "the corporal here will escort you to the mess where you may wait until we can find your party somewhere to sleep." Nabiki waved a hand to indicate a marine standing in attendance. "You are dismissed" she added, without a smile.

"That went well," Richard offered ironically. Nabiki turned to him with a wan smile.

"YOU are welcome Richard," Nabiki said, reaching out a hand. But instead of just shaking his she pulled him into a hug. "How have you been?" she asked

"Well enough" he replied, cheered by the warmth of her greeting. "How' the family?"

"Growing" she answered, putting one hand to her belly. Richard replied with a big smile.

"Congratulations" he responded warmly. "When is it due?"

"Not for a long time yet" Nabiki replied.

"Ranma must be chuffed" he asked probing lightly.

"Yes he is Richard" Nabiki replied with a smile. "And no I am not going to tell you where he is"

"Fine, be like that then" he offered with false grumpiness.

"It is good to see you again" Nabiki enthused.

"And you" he replied.

"I'll let Laura know you're coming with us" Nabiki said.

"She's aboard?" he asked.

"No I just like messing with you" Nabiki explained ironically.

"Fine" he retorted, "tease the civvy why don't you?" Nabiki nodded and with a smile urged him to catch up with the rest of Weir's party. "Richard" she called after him, he turned back to her. "Tell Weir I am going to need details of everyone in her party."

"She won't like that"

"Tough, I will not have any more agent Flags aboard in my organisation," she replied harshly.

"Understood!" Richard responded thoughtfully.

o

o

o

o

Dr. Elisabeth Weir was unhappy, very unhappy. Ever since she had become involved in the secret of X-Com that one woman had been a constant thorn in her side. And now the damn warmonger was throwing her weight around again. Well she would see about that.

"Georgie," she called to her private secretary, "Get me a line to the Commander in Chief."

"Ma'am?" the girl replied.

"Just do it" Weir responded, "and find me some coffee!"

"Elisabeth" Richard ventured.

"WHAT" she demanded.

"You really have to calm down" he replied, hands outstretched wardingly. "This is not a good impression for the troops" he explained nodding towards the marines standing guard.

"Fine!" she agreed with ill-humour.

"And Nabiki wants a list of all the people in our party"

"WHAT!" Weir demanded.

"She has that right," Richard reminded her. "Our group are subject to her security scrutiny."

"Damn her" Weir said, "she'll use this as an excuse to get rid of us!"  
"Only if we deserve it" replied Richard.

"What?" Weir asked.

"You may not like her but you know that she will obey orders!" Richard admonished.

"She had better!" Weir replied archly. Richard was taken aback.

"What are you up to?" he asked.

"Wait and see" she replied, taking a cup of coffee that a girl handed her. Richard shook his head despairingly and went looking for Georgina to get the list drawn up. "Don't tell her what she doesn't need to know" Weir called after him.

"I don't think-

"Just do it" she ordered, cutting him off.

When Weir had first heard of this mission she had been horrified by the very idea of it. She had done everything she could to stop it, and failed. Then she had done what she could to pull the mission under UN direct command, and failed. Finally she had tried to have the worst warmongers removed from command and only partly succeeded. The murderer who had been in command of the first extra-terrestrial contact had been sidelined, denied permission to accompany his belligerent wife but she had been unable to stop Mrs Saotome.

She was determined that this next meeting would not be a repeat of the last. In her experience diplomacy and peace were always better answers than murder and destruction. There was no situation that could not be improved by careful reasoning and skilled diplomacy. To say otherwise was to revert to barbarism. To Weir this mission represented the next leap in human civilisation, the chance to meet alien races and forge a new destiny for the race as a whole.

She would not, could not stand by and let the uniformed thugs start a new wave of human imperialism. The Saotomes represented exactly what the marxist Schumpeter had described as an 'atavistic elite,' people who asserted their dominance through their ability to destroy. In her opinion it was people like the Soatomes who had been responsible for nearly all the great evils that mankind had perpetrated. Everything from 'manifest destiny' to the holocaust had been rationalised by just the same arguments that the X-Com agents spouted about the aliens. Weir was determined to prevent another incident that would stain humanity's soul forevermore.

o

o

o

o

"Here's the list Nabiki" Richard said, handing the Captain a datapad. "Please be careful who you show it."  
"Excuse me?" Nabiki asked.

"Weir was rather explicit that I should hold back"

"And you didn't?" Nabiki guessed

"She told me to only tell you what you needed to know," Richard replied, "In my view you need to know it all," he finished with a smile.

"Thank you Richard" she answered with real feeling. For a moment he stood there in silence watching her scan the form.

"She's not bad, just misguided" Richard said, not needing to say who. "You two have more in common than you know."

"Believe me I know more than you think" Nabiki said ruefully. "Everytime we meet it seems we end up fighting, and neither of us will admit publicly that the other has a point. We just can't see eye to eye, and won't."

"You admit she has a point?" Richard asked.

"Of course she has a point," Nabiki replied, "and in a perfect universe I would stand beside her and hold the same banners. But the universe isn't perfect, love doesn't conquer all, the good continue to die young and some people cannot be told. Despite what she thinks X-Com is not about killing every non-human in existence. We aren't risking our lives for fun or self-aggrandisement. We do what we do to defend our way of life, to defend our people's existence."

"Even at the cost of theirs?"

"If necessary."

"She would ask what gave you that right," Richard replied, playing devil's advocate.

"Because the only other choice is surrendering to our extermination," Nabiki explained, "and that is even less right!"

"No diplomacy?"

"You have seen the films, do you think they look like people who will take no for an answer?"

"No I don't" Richard responded. "And more than that I trust your judgement in this. I know you well enough to know that you aren't the person she thinks you are."

"Thank you Richard" she replied. "That means a lot more than you know." He smiled in response, a warm genuine smile that he would never have known how to give only a short while ago.

o

o

o

o

"Ladies and Gents welcome to Skull squadron." Commander Roy Focker said to his troops. They were assembled in the pre-fight room for his welcoming speech. One he had given many times before. "You have been hand picked because of your demonstrated superior ability. Every one of you has earned your place here and will have to continue to justify it in the weeks and months to come.

"You will come to rely on each other, you will become closer than family." He ignored the rude snigger. "You will become a team at the heart of Earth's vanguard. The best of the best." There were a few cheers.

"Now your assignments will be posted on the scramble board" he said pointing at the large whiteboard behind him, "familiarise yourselves with your wingmen and training schedules. As of this moment you are operational."

As he left he was all but run down by the scrambling pilots, running for the board behind him. Ranma was for once slow to react, any insinuation that he had slept through the speech would be pure supposition, but quickly guessed what the fuss was about and leapt to join in.

"Oh no not Hikari," one man lamented.

"Kiss your nuts goodbye" a friend 'consoled.'

"Whoo I got Lisa" shouted another voice celebrating, "she is soooo HOT!

"Bertrand?" another said in disbelief. Ranma fought his way through, shoving and pushing with the rest. A blond haired man took the opportunity to pinch his shapely rear and received a solid palm-strike for his effort. After that the way cleared remarkably quickly.

Ranma quickly scanned down the pilot list, he found his assumed name, and found his pairing, a second Lieutenant by the name of Valentine. The name meant nothing to him, so he was probably a old hand from one of the smaller Earth bases.

"Who's Ranko?" asked a woman's voice to Ranma's left. Ranma turned to find out who. The girl in question was young, and very pretty. The first thing Ranma noticed was that she had purple highlights in her dark hair. Then she noticed the makeup. Most pilots never bothered, but this girl had taken the time. A scan further down showed up an altered flight suit, designed to accentuate her curves. Suddenly Ranma was looking straight into the girl's dark eyes, shining with emotion.

"I know" the girl said "I'm beautiful, try not to get too jealous!"

"Tell me you aren't Valentine!" Ranma wished.

"No," the girl replied, and Ranma allowed himself a sigh, "My name's Yuri, nobody calls me Valentine any more. Yuri is much prettier."

"Yuri?" Ranma asked "As in Mexico base Yuri?"

"You've heard of me?" Yuri replied, "would you like a picture? Do you have a cute brother?"

"I'm Saotome Ranko" Ranma explained, fighting the sinking feeling. Yuri was indeed a name he knew, from the worst reports, the girl was a menace to all things solid. Nobody had as many detriments against their name, or as many merits. She had been busted nearly as many times as she had been promoted and if her record was anything to go by it was only a matter of time.

"You are Ranko?" the girl asked, "you look like a man!"

"I am a…" Ranma argued loudly, only stopping when he noticed the audience their argument was generating.

"A what?" Yuri asked.

"Girl" Ranma admitted, "I'm a girl"

"Could have fooled me," Ranma's new wingman said, "even your name is all but masculine."

"Do these look masculine to you?" Ranma asked, lifting her ample bosom. (and causing a few spontaneous nosebleeds).

"No they don't" Yuri admitted, "You could actually look very beautiful if you just…" she continued, lifting Ranma's chin. "A bit of blusher here…"

"NO" said Ranma lifting the other girl's hand away. "I am perfectly happy the way I am" he informed her.

"But you need a prettier name," Yuri continued regardless.

"No" argued Ranma.

"Sakura?"

"NO!"

"Lina?"

"NO!"

"I know how about Kiki?"

"Definitely not!"

"We could call you Kei"

"No way," Ranma argued, "no way no how!"

"Kei it is" Yuri agreed, walking off, dragging Ranma along with her. "Now about those highlights…"

"I can't believe that this is happening to me!" Ranma groused.

o

o

o

Meanwhile hidden in the superstructure of the ship a lone form huddled, cold and tired. She was wearing the green of an X-Com ground crew agent and her patches identified her as a Dark Angel. She was spying on a mess hall through a small hole in the ceiling. For a moment one of her blue-black bangs dropped across her face, she reached back and pushed it behind her ear. "Who the hell are you?" Akane asked herself, looking down at 'Ranko.'

"Is someone there?" a new voice asked. Suddenly a torchbeam was swinging through the area she was hiding in. Akane bolted like a jackrabbit, immediately giving herself away whereas otherwise she might have remained hidden.

The chase was on.


	5. preparations?

**Chapter 5: Preparations?**

"Captain we have caught a stowaway" the interrupting marine informed Nabiki. She was sat in conference with Weir in her ready room. They were sat on opposite sides of the large shiny black desk. They had been politely arguing for nearly an hour over Nabiki's expulsion of three of Wier's party. Nabiki had pulled her own strings and discovered them all to be in the employ of various Earthside intelligence agencies; one from the CIA, one from Mossad and one from the new Russian Alliance. Weir denied knowing but Nabiki wasn't buying a moment of it. Once Nabiki had presented her evidence Weir had agreed to the expulsions but was now insisting on replacements.

Nabiki held up a hand to delay Weir, and turned to the marine. "Where were they?"

"Apparently she was chasing her fiancé who ran off with her sister or something. Captain Kaji is dealing with it ma'am"

"Good" Nabiki replied turning back to Weir, "Now where were we."

"What will happen to her?" Weir asked.

" Interrogation then imprisonment for the duration" Nabiki replied.

"That seems a little harsh,"

"We ARE at war" Nabiki insisted.

"Maybe we can compromise" Weir asked.

"No doctor," Nabiki replied, "There is no time to do a thorough check, and we have too many freeloaders already.

"So if I can find her a position?"

"And get her cleared" Nabiki insisted, "To Kaji's satisfaction."

"Then I can keep her?" Weir asked, already planning ways to get her little victory.

"If!" Nabiki responded. "Now if there is no more, I really need to make that meeting with Misato before she spends too long off duty."

o

o

o

"This id the latest development of X-Com hybrid Interceptor technology, the Valkyrie. She is equipped with two primary weapon hardpoints and two light missile racks. Her induction engine is gravitol fuelled and thrusters assisted. Her shields are the latest product out of Marsec's Mars labs and capable of stopping even the Elerium fuelled missiles our enemy are using. Simply put she is one of the finest machines ever built and you will be flying her." Cmdr Focker was lecturing again and the pilots were trying very hard to pay attention. This despite the fact that every single one of them who cared had already taken a run down to the flight deck to check out the ships they would be flying and so already knew the interceptors in far more detail than Roy was explaining.

"Red Squadron are flying Firestorm twos and Blue are flying Lightning class bombers" Roy answered a question most could not hear. "You will be clearing the way and flying high protection."

"When do we get to play?" Called a man to Ranma's left.

"Simulators first people" Roy told them. There was a chorus of groans in reply. "Meantime each of you can LOOK at your birds and familiarise yourselves with their capabilities."

Ranma and the other pilots were unleashed and soon were scrambling over their fighter bays. To the bay crews it was like a sudden surge of grey suited terrors. Every craft soon had a pilot attached, wanting to talk about things like customisation and individual paint schemes. Ranma, somewhat more restrained than the others about things like paint was running his hangarman ragged with questions about increasing manoeuvre torque. Fortunately, Tomo, the engineer in question was a gravitolhead greasemonkey, and enjoyed her job and, to her messing with planes was just about better than chocolate.

"So if you drill out the bore on number five and add a vortex thing I'll get about ten percent more lateral lift,"

"Vortex transducer," Tomo corrected, "But you'll lose perhaps three from your inertial compensators" Tomo explained, idly cracking open a panel.

"So I'll see a few more G's in thrust"

"Yep"

"Do it please " he requested. "And anything else you can think of. I ain't weak and won't break."

"Won't be able to brake" Tomo noted, "If I screw the thrusters through with a set of rippers and drop the safety line, I can give you maybe another twenty percent."

"But?" he asked

"Forget flying level. She'll be jumpier than a two year old on a sugar rush."

"That bad?"

"Worse. You'll have to be flying by the seat of your pants from the moment you blast out of the catapult to the moment you kill the engine in the bay."

"Feh" Ranma said dismissively making it clear that severe discomfort wasn't a problem. "You give me the tools and I'll handle the bad guys." She offered him a big smile.

"Girl you got guts" Tomo said, "I'll do what I can."

"Thanks babe" he replied, jumping down.

"….And we'll need the logo stencilled here, here and here, Oh hi Kia how are you. She may want a different logo but don't let her change anything else-" Yuri was keeping up a constant stream of 'necessary' cosmetic changes and her own bayman was desperately trying to keep up.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" Ranma demanded.

"Oh Hiya Kei." Yuri rpelied, "I've decided we need to have our own logo. Dark angels is a bit….dark isn't it." She continued without waiting for Ranma's reply. "So we are now the Lovely Angels!"

"Lovely Angels?" Ranma gasped.

"Yeah good isn't it?" Yuri replied. "You and me together as a team. Well not like that but you get the idea. Besides I don't go that way, I mean why would you when there are so many gorgeous men out there!"

"Er-"

"Ranma" the girl said, giving Ranma a sudden surprise, had the maniac found out about his secret, and if so how. Was she going to spill the beans?

"Er" he replied, still trying to catch up.

"Your brother, dummy!" Yuri explained. "Is he still single?"

"No I, er he-" Ranma stammered.

"Pity, he was soooo cute, man I woulda jumped his bones!" Yuri went on. "So you got any other male relatives, cousins, nephews, is your dad still married?"

"Er-"

"I'll leave you two to it" Tomo muttered backing off.

"Wait!" Yuri commanded, "You have to help Bentley with the logos!"

"Yuri" Ranma interrupted.

"Yes Kei" the girl said whirling to look at the redhead, her hair trailing behind her. "Oh your hair, I had forgotten." The girl grabbed Ranma's hand and took off for the crew quarters at mach one.

"She's mad" commented Tomo.

"Completely" agreed the other

o

o

o

"What the hell happened to you?" Nabiki asked. She was meeting her husband for a quiet family evening meal in her quarters, but hadn't been expecting this. 'Ranko' stood there with bright blond highlights in her red hair, in a figure hugging crop top that was definitely too small for her and a pair of shorts that looked like they had been painted on. "Is that makeup?" Nabiki asked. Ranma nodded dejectedly. For a moment Nabik just stared, then she burst out laughing and threw her arms around her transformed husband. "Never stop Ranma" she said, kissing her/him thoroughly.

"Stop what?" he asked, very confused.

"Surprising me" she replied, "It is one of your most endearing features."

"Uh?" he responded, confused. But instead of explaining she kissed him again, and that was good too.

Soon he went off to play with Kimiko for a while and Nabiki laid the table. A mess corporal brought their dinners, and left a bottle of wine chilling as he went back to the officer's dining room. Nabiki knew that she was being unfair to her other officers by not eating with them the first night but she also knew that where it came to her family nobody was going to tell her not to be selfish.

So the somewhat strange looking family Saotome had a pleasant, private meal, and took the time to enjoy the stolen moments. Afterwards Ranma had to go back to his own mess deck and Nabiki had to return to her officers but for those few hours they were together and that counted for something.

"Next time I'm taking a hot shower," Ranma asserted as he was saying his goodbyes.

"Deal," Nabiki answered, "But only if I can scrub your back!" Then the door shut behind him/her and they were parted again.

"Why I have been looking for you everywhere," came that dreaded voice as Ranma stepped out of his wife's rooms. Indeed as he turned there was Dr. Kuno Kodachi, complete in a leather bondage suit and black lab coat. "I really should have guessed that you would be here hmmm?"

"Er Dr. Kuno" Ranma said uncertainly.

"Grrr" growled Kodachi, slinking towards him.

"I mean Kodachi-sama" Ranma corrected quickly.

"Much better" Kodachi purred, pinning Ranma up against the wall. "You smell….exquisite" she purred taking a deep breath. "And your hair…" she continued, running a gloved hand through Ranma's coloured bangs. "Its very…sexy" she purred pressing her body up against the smaller woman.

"I have really got to go," Ranma choked out, blushing hard enough to rival a lighthouse. Kodachi pouted and reluctantly stepped back.

"I too have duties," she admitted. "But we shall have plenty of time to pick this up again later." She leered, but she had stepped away enough to let Ranma run and that was all that counted. Ranma , who had stood alone against the most fearsome of alien commandos without even a quiver, ran, and ran fast.

"OhohoOHOHOHoHOHoHOOHho!" the madwoman's laugh echoed down the hall behind her.

And then Kodachi went to do her second favourite thing.

o

o

o

"Prisoner for you" the marine announced. He and two comrades were escorting a heavily restrained young Japanese woman. The way her hair was spiked and she twitched every so often seemed to indicate that she had needed to be restrained more than once.

"Very good my man" Kodachi drawled, sitting on the corner of her desk and crossing her legs with a leathery creak. "What have we here?" she leered, leaning forwards to inspect the captive. The marine suddenly found a small weasely man standing at his shoulder, and carrying a collar and leash. Wisely he just backed off, and shut the door firmly behind him.

Sasuke, long used to the form clipped the collar to the girl and the leash to the wall, and then retreated.

Akane was just bringing the world back into focus as all this happened and was really not liking what she saw. There was a very perverted man in a fake ninja suit, and a very disturbed woman in a leather outfit. She looked up at the seated woman, hoping that she would step in if the pervert tried anything hentai.

"Ah you're back with us" Kodachi leered, sending a shiver up Akane's spine. "I do hope they weren't too rough on you. They might have inured you to the sweet caress of voltage."

"Wha?" Akane managed. The woman was sounding like a perverted boy! She was sure she could even smell cheese whiz somewhere around here!

"The sweet burn, the enforced contraction of the muscles, the beautiful arcs" the hentai girl was running her hands over her own body now, almost ecstatic in her silken praise.

Suddenly the 'doctor' lurched upright and was staring at Akane with eyes burning in the fires of her of derangement. She reached behind her and picked up a riding crop. Now Akane knew that this had to be a trick.

"You are wondering why you are here," the doctor told her, "wondering if I really am as bad as I look. Believe me I am.

"You can't do this to me I am-

"Tendo Akane," Kodachi interrupted, "the love of my deluded brother's life." She added, using the crop to raise Akane's chin. "And quite beautiful in your own way," she purred.

"You're a pervert!" exclaimed Akane.

"Oh yes!" Kodachi agreed. "Very much so. And by the time I am finished with you so too will you be!"

"Never!" screamed Akane defiantly. Kodachi let out a small moan of pleasure, and grabbed Akane's chin for a kiss.

"I love it when they fight" she breathed into the captive's face. Akane was stunned, she had never been this powerless before and it scared her.

"Exciting isn't it" Kodachi purred, stroking her fingers down Aknae's face.

"Help" she whispered, but nobody came.

o

o

o

Nabiki finished her last log and signed off. She stacked the papers and closed the last file. In the silent room she stood, stretched and looked around trying to place the odd feeling. She aught sight of the bed and knew. Tonight would be the first night in a very long time that she would sleep without Ranma. Even aboard the Hermes they had managed to share a tiny bunk, but tonight she would be alone. It hurt deep down.

"Mamma?" asked Kimiko, sitting up from her bed.

"What is it darling?" Nabiki asked, grateful for the interruption.

"Can't sleep mamma" the girl replied.

"Well how about you share mummy's bed tonight?" Nabiki offered with a smile. Kimiko's answering one genuinely chased away the dark thoughts and soon mother and child were asleep, cuddled together in the mother's bed.

Day passed into night and aboard the Nemesis everyone not needed stood down and went to bed, lulled off to sleep by the thrum of the massive engines, a giant deep heartbeat that resounded through every deck and wall, that of the ship itself.


	6. To the Stars

**Chapter 6: Cast thyself onto the wild sea.**

"We are clear of the moon Captain," the ensign at the helm declared. The bridge was otherwise silent. Captain Colonel Saotome Nabiki allowed herself a small smile of triumph and leaned back a little more into her seat. For this first time she had patched the bridge communicators into the public address, everyone aboard the ship would hear these next few minutes. She could imagine them, strapping in to their lift positions and waiting with baited breath for the final moments in the solar system they called home.

"Take us to the FRV" Nabiki commanded.

"Aye Aye Captain" the girl replied, "ETA ten minutes."

"Aknowleged" Nabiki replied, taking the time to look around her bridge. To her left sat Misato, apparently sober and collected. To her right should have been Commander Hayes but her seat had been appropriated by the new 'Admiral' Weir. That still rankled, somehow the woman had managed to get an honorary rank of rear Admiral of the UN in the last day. While the rank meant little to X-Com it did mean that the woman was no longer a civilian officially. Fortunately Lisa didn't mind, she was happier at the flight control station, closer to her birds. Ensigns manned navigation, communication, sensors and astrogation, all linked to dedicated suites elsewhere in the ship. The bridge also had the standard representatives of the scientific and engineering corps, linked to their own op centres. But perhaps more importantly it also contained the representative of Psi-ops, a good man hand-picked by the best. Gos had agreed to come at the last moment (Nabiki suspected some argument with his partner) and Nabiki was more than happy to have him aboard.

Nabiki's and her Xos' own seats were set towards the upper rear of the bridge, giving her a commanding view of the setup. Around their seat were a wide array of screens and readouts, capable of instantly displaying the status of any section of the ship. Nabiki was determined to have Weir locked out of some systems but had simply not had time yet.

Every bridge officer was armed, carried a utility belt and wore a skinsuit. In the event of any loss of atmosphere the figure hugging suits would erect an instant ionic field that could hold its own atmosphere for just over a minute, just long enough to fix on the suit helmets that were constantly at hand. In the completed suit an agent could survive as long as their air held out, provided they didn't rip the suit beyond their ability to repair or find themselves in direct sunlight at too close a range.

The utility belt was standard issue, containing a computer linked data pad about the size of a palm top, a smple survival kit, spare magazines and a dozen 'goop balls.' These were the last ditch sealant putty variants. In seconds they could be used to repair any small leak, if only temporarily. They were the piece of essential kit that everyone had to carry at all times.

"Arriving at FRV in three, two, one"

"Everyone prepare for lift! And….. engage drives!" Nabiki ordered and the ship roared into life. From outside the ship would have appeared to suddenly flare like a newborn star. All four of its massive engines commenced their gravitol cascades, and began to hurl the vessel straight out of the solar system.

Inside the light wasn't in evidence instead it was the noise. Every plate of every deck vibrated in sympathy. The noise seemed to travel through very section, every person, for a moment banishing all else. But the sudden noise was just one factor of the discomfort, with the leap into speeds beyond human comprehension came a sudden compression followed by a return to weightlessness. For the duration of the full-lift the ship would be using all its energy for acceleration and life support, none was spared for niceties like gravity. The boots of the skinsuits could be set to provide grip but Nabiki was genuinely looking forward to showing off her lack of need for groundhog allowances. And she was very much looking forward to Weir's discomfort.

"We have maximum lift" the ensign reported.

"Roger that" Misato replied. "Nav check?"

"All lights green."

"Life support?"

"A one"

"Engineering?"

"All structural stress within expected parameters."

"Captain all lights are green" Misato reported.

"Thank you Misato" Nabiki replied, standing to address the whole ship. "Agents we will soon hit the point of no return. Nemesis is on its way!"

o

o

o

The moment they were safely into full lift Nabiki relinquished control o the bridge to Misato and went to fix some of the other problems that had arisen overnight. As she expeted Weir was hot on her heels as she stepped into the elevator from the bridge.

"What can I do for you doctor" she asked.

"I thought that it was traditional to refer to an admiral by rank?" Weir replied, apparently pleasantly.

"Only if that rank is part of your command structure, Maynard remember." Nabiki corrected.

"Ah" Weir said, knowing full well that she was being slighted but also knowing there was nothing she could do about it. "I wanted to talk to you about Akane."

"Ok," Nabiki allowed "so talk."

"She's your sister?" Weir verified.

"Indeed she is" Nabiki replied.

"So how can you allow what is happening to her?" Weir asked, genuinely interested in how Nabiki's mind worked.

"Are you saying you would have used your position to help?" Nabiki replied, shifting the focus.

"No I wouldn't" Weir replied, almost certain, "but she is getting it harder than anyone else."

"Crew Dynamics" Nabiki explained. "When push comes to shove the crew have to know I am constant, that they can rely on me."

"So your sister has to suffer"

"Yes, otherwise if I have to order the same for any of my crew who are suspected of being turned they-"

"Will remember your sister getting off lightly." Weir finished.

"And this way.." Nabiki prompted.

"They will think anything that happens to their friends is getting off lightly," Weir finished. "It's still pretty cold hearted."

"Its very cold hearted Doctor," Nabiki corrected. "And I would expect the same from every member of my crew. The mission comes first."

"What about ethics, principle?" Weir argued, gearing up for one of their deep debates.

"My ethics are success, my principles are to win!" Nabiki retorted.

"The end justifying the means?" Weir asked, voice full of scorn.

"No doctor, the end is everything!" Nabiki corrected. "The means are completely irrelevant and I don't have to justify myself to anyone!"

"They have names for that sort of attitude!" Weir retorted.

"Yes" Nabiki agreed, "Survivors." Then the door opened and Nabiki stepped out into the corridor, going to attend to her other business. Unfortunately for the doctor the Flight deck area was restricted so Weir did not have access and had to stay behind.

o

o

Roy Focker was waiting for her at the end of the first corridor.

"Thank you for coming Captain," He said

"No problem Commander," she replied. "You said you needed advice?"

"Its two of the pilots" he began "they are already causing trouble."

"Lay it on me" she said, moving into the commander's office-bunkroom. He offered her a seat and sat down on his bed.

"Just before lockdown they were holding a fight in bay seven," he explained.

"Holding a fight?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied, "One was taking bets while the other was taking on all comers." Nabiki had a flash of nostalgia for Furinikan, and then made the connection.

"Tell me was the fighter called Saotome?" she asked, with a sinking feeling. Roy nodded slowly.

"And the other was her wingman, Yuri Valentine."

"Yuri valentine" Nabiki repeated, trying to recall the name. "As in Mexico Valentine?"

"Kaye is her sister" Roy explained, "Yuri's worse."

"You are joking?" Nabiki asked. "We have both of them aboard!"

"And now your sister-in-law seems to have fallen in with the younger one!"

"Oh shit!" Nabiki swore. "What have they broken?"

"One loader, two secure containers and four pilots" Roy explained. "It could have been worse."

"And discepline?"

"Has never worked on any of them" Roy explained dejectedly.

"Okay, keep them occupied instead," Nabiki said, making plans. "Opposed simulations or something."

"Opposed?"

"We have no guarantee the aliens won't be very good where we are going," Nabiki said "the only way we can test the pilots is by putting them up against the best. With no way of guessing capabilities they are going to need all the adaptability we can teach them."

"So the Lovely Angels fly enemy?"

"And friendly. And damaged. And solo"

"I get the idea" Roy said. "Break them in the sims. Teach them teamwork and bring them into the fold?"

"Close" Nabiki disagreed. "I doubt they will have any trouble with teamwork. According to my reports despite their appearances the two of them are more than sound tactically. I would also lend them to the baycrew. What I want you to do is keep them occupied, and see how good you can make them before break-out."

"Why them?" Roy asked.

"Because everything I have learnt from the previous war tells me that it is the wild ones that make the difference at the sharp end. If they were easy to deal with they wouldn't have what it takes to be the people we need."

"Okay Captain."

"Roy," Nabiki continued. "This has to come from you. I have a certain …'relationship' with Ranko and I can't be seen to be involved."

"Relationship?" Roy asked intrigued. Nabiki looked him straight in the eye.

"I'm sleeping with her" she explained, without a flicker. Roy was thrown for six.

"Whoa" he said, mind racing, "Does her brother.."

"Know?" Nabiki replied, "Yes he does. He and I have an 'understanding'"

"Uh," replied Roy unable to compute.

"So you'll keep it under your hat?" she asked. He only nodded, and watched the stunning Captain stand up, launch herself with those fantastic legs and float out.

"Whoa" he said again. "There is definitely something in the water!"

o

o

"Have I mentioned that this is all your fault!" Yuri groused at Ranma. The two of them were reporting for their next shift. They had just worked a double in the catapult bays and were both greasy and sore, and were now on their way for sim drills. "I can't believe how dirty those crawl-ways were."

"And I can't believe how much you complain!" Ranma retorted. "This is too heavy, that's too dirty…." He whinged imitating her 'airhead voice.'

"I had a date Kei!" Yuri complained "And he was a sure thing!"

"This is about a boy?" Ranma retorted "Do you ever think of anything else?"

"Sure I do" she replied, not entirely convincingly, "You don't look this beautiful without work you know!"

"Beautiful" Ranma disagreed, running a finger across a grease mark, smudging it larger. "Not at the moment," He teased.

" Well if it isn't our Lovely Angels" Commander Lisa Hayes called, causing them to suddenly realise that they had arrived at the sims bay. "Strange, you don't look particularly lovely right now."

"Why you!" Yuri cried, bunching a fist.

"More….dirty." she concluded. "Now fall in and take your seats!"

"Aye Aye ma'am!" Ranma agreed loudly, just because he knew it would annoy Yuri.

o

o

The sims bay was a long cylinder very near the drive plates. Arranged down the walls were dozens of reclining shairs, fitted with full virtual reality rigs and surrounding coils. It made use of the drive byproducts to power a very advanced VR setup that included simulated high G for tight turns. With the surrounding coils, feedback rigs and advanced computer programming the seats should be able to produce very realistic dogfight conditions, only the inbuilt safeties would stop permanent damage. In short they were streets ahead of anything the pilots had played with before and were taking a lot of getting used to.

The different flights split up and took their places in their couches. Lisa moved to the command console and handed over to the squadron leaders.

"The mission today is already set up. Buckle up and immerse!" Roy commanded, moving to his own seat.

Ranma did as commanded and was soon pulling the induction helmet down over his eyes.

Suddenly he was in his Valkyrie. It was so real he could even feel the conversion engine's vibration.

"All Skull's launch and assemble at Delta one-oh-six!" Roy's voice called. Ranma hit the button and was suddenly crushed back into his seat as the fighter screamed out of the catapult at maximum thrust, propelled by the gauss rails as well as his own thrusters.

Immediately that he was clear he saw the tube his scanner lit up with bogeys. The simulation was clearly a hostile breakout and it looked hot.

With a smile Ranma threw himself into a full-tolerance turn and spun out to join the Skulls. His heart was singing and that old rush was back in force. He had to resist the instinct to 'woop.'

They had their Asses handed to them. By the end of the sim, every living soul that was part of the mission was either slowly dying of asphyxiation in space or scattered all over it.

"Well done ladies" Lisa commented idly, "WE ARE ALL DEAD!" She turned to the techie running the sim. "Reconfigure and rerun! These wimps don't leave till they get something right!"

So once again Ranma dropped into the sim. This time with a far more sober attitude. Along with everyone else the shame of defeat was too much to bear. So they tried really hard. And lost again.

"YOU SUCK!" Lisa shouted, "Reconfigure!"

So they tried again.

"Better," she called "BUT WE ARE STILL DEAD! Reconfigure!"

"Reconfigure!"

"Again!"

"Terrible! Reconfigure!"

"You are getting worse! Reconfigure!"

"Again!"

"Wow you finally got something right. But would any of you care to tell me how we get home without the Nemesis! Reconfigure!"

"Again!"

"Finally! Now see if you can do it twice! Reconfigure!"

o

o

By the time the pilots were finally released they had been in the bay for nearly ten hours. They were sore, bruided, and dog-tired. But they were also elated, they had beaten the bastards! It didn't matter that it was only a sim, they had finally won.

They all went straight for the canteen, some by way of the toilets. The meal was ready just as they entered, not coincidentally, and soon they were all settling into seats.

What started off as a sudued, almost silent affair soon dissolved into hundreds of conversations, reliving the fights, waving anything that came to hand as makeshift models. People were arguing, enthusing, demonstrating and congratulating. Only one pair remained staring at each other in stony silence.

"Okay" Yuri said, breaking the silence, "You fly good!"

"So do you" Ranma admitted. "That straw pattern twist was perfect," he added after a while.

"But only because you led the bastard through the other side of it," Yuri admitted.

"We work well together" Ranma offered.

"Well?" Yuri asked, "We kicked ass!" Ranma tilted his head. "You wait and see when they put the stats up!"

"Girls" Roy said, taking a seat at their table. "That was some real fancy flying you two did."

"Thanks" Ranma said, "what can I say we're the best," he joked.

"Hah!" Roy argued, "You two crashed more times than anyone else!"

"Yeah but at least a few of them were deliberate!" Yuri argued.

"Yeah!" agreed Ranma, "We were out of ammo!"

"What about the time you took out the Nemesis main dish" he retorted, pointedly.

"Well, that was the damn fighter's fault!" Ranma tried. "Damn thing wouldn't do what it was told!"

"They are accurate representations of the craft you'll be fighting in!" Roy replied, only a little more gently.

"Not mine!" Ranma argued. "Tomo's drilling her out for me."

"Drilling her out?" Roy asked. Ranma proceeded to explain what he and Tomo were doing to his fighter, the two of them had spent much of their time in the crawl-ways discussing the hard details and even if he didn't understand the principles he knew enough to know hew liked the changes.

"Wow" Roy answered, "Will it work?"

"Only one way to be sure!" Ranma replied.  
"You can't take her out until we breakout," Roy reminded him. "And it may be too hot to risk anything untried when we do.

"So we'll rig a test room, reconfigure some inertial dampers and use a lot of cable!" Ranma offered.

"I'll see if Lisa will clear it" Roy said pointedly.

"Balls" Ranma replied. "If she does or don't clear it we still have to do it! The advantages are more than worth the risk!"

"I will see what I can do!" Roy said, standing again.

"While you are at it" Yuri interrupted, "can you see if her aide is available?" Both Roy and Ranma looked at her as if she had flipped, " Oh come on! He's sooo cute!"


	7. Secrets and solidarity

**Chapter 7: Secrets.**

"Ship secure Captain" Captain Kaji reported. It was the deepest part of nightwatch and a select group had assembled in one of the troop transporters. The lights were dim and Kaji had just finished setting up noise and EM jammers.

Kaji took another look around the 'room' these were hardly the people he would have expected to find in a top secret security briefing. The head of psi-ops was a shoe-in. Having the Corps Sergeant Major included was a little irregular but her history justified her presence. The red-headed pilot he could understand making an exception for, after all the girl beside being family was an old time X-Com veteran. He had managed to dig up reports of her dating back many years, all of them sketchy, leading him to believe that she was some sort of sleeper agent. Kodachi Kuno was unexpected, but again justified. What he had a problem with was who was not here, no Misato, no Colonel Everett and no chief of engineers; all of them had impressive records, and had access to the top levels of secure information.

"Thank you Kaji" Nabiki replied, looking at the others. "What can you tell me?"

"Akane is the only extra aboard the ship as far as we can detect," Kaji replied.

"As far as she knows she came alone, and only at the urging of Soun and Genma," Kodachi added. "She has become most 'co-operative'" the mad doctor explained.

"Genma and Soun?" Kaji asked.

"Irrelivant" Nabiki ruled. "Any sign of sabotage?"

"None" replied the pilot of all people.

"Any sign she was tampered with?" Nabiki asked.

"Not by anyone but us" Gos replied.

"How did she get aboard?" Nabiki demanded.

"She used something called the Umisken to sneak into the Japanese lift site. From there she managed to dodge the checks," Kodachi explained.

"That should not be possible!" Kaji objected.

"True!" Nabiki agreed, "Okinawa has been alerted."

"Apparently she used her feminine wiles," Kaji added, with a knowing smile. Ranma sorted loudly.

"Did Weir help her?" Nabiki asked.

"No," replied Gos. "My man detected no foreknowledge even when she was told."

"But that doesn't explain why she was so keen to have her!" Kaji exclaimed.

"Bleeding heart!" the pilot offered.

"Explain" required Gos.

"She sees herself as the guardian of our morality," Kodachi interrupted, "ridiculous as that seems."

"So she was acting purely dis-interestedly," the pilot explained.

"I find that hard to swallow" Kaji objected.

"So do I" Laura added, "Nobody's that stupid!"

"Weir is!" Ranma objected.

"We cannot take the risk," Nabiki replied. "I want twenty-four hour watch on her team. Everything they do, every memo they write I want it looked at. If one so much as pees in the shower I want it logged!"

"Aye. Aye, Captain" Kaji agreed. The others nodded. "We may have to turn one of her people." He continued.

"I've got an 'in' with her personal secretary" Gos responded, with a subtext. For a moment everyone looked at him. He shrugged as if to say he wasn't telling.

"And disable her damn communicator!" Nabiki commanded. "That's all for now, dismissed." Nabiki ordered and the group broke up leaving only her and Ranma in the shuttle.

"Captain?" Ranma asked.

"Yes pilot?" Nabiki responded.

"Permission to display affection"

"Granted" Nabiki replied with a smile. Ranma swept her up in his arms and kissed her thoroughly.

Nabiki was very late to bed that night, very tired, and very very happy.

o

o

o

"And where have you been Kei?" Yuri demanded. Ranma had just come stumbling back to his bunk only to find his wingman asleep on it. He had shaken her and now she was awake he was wishing he had let her sleep. "I waited for ages, you are just so insensitive!"

"Yuri," Ranma said waving his hands placatingly, "Please shut up"

"You shut up!" Yuri demanded.

"Fine" Ranma agreed. "Just get off my bed and let me sleep!"

"NO!"

"Shhh!" Ranma said, pushing her back.

"What are you doing?" Yuri demanded, as Ranma climbed into his bed next to her.

"You aren't leaving, fine, but I AM going to sleep." Ranma answered.

"But!"

"Shhh!" Ranma said, and Yuri, for once complied. Ranma wriggled to get comfortable and soon Yuri gave up, she was tierd too after all. So Yuri settled down next to her wingman.

"mmm you smell nice" Yuri whispered sleepily. Ranma knew exactly what Yuri smelt but decided not to make an issue of it.

o

o

o

"So what can you tell me about your sister?" Weir asked. She was sat in her small room/office talking to the newly released Akane. The youngest Tendo was not entirely free of course, she was still under watch and unable to go anywhere without a guard. The girl also looked decidedly frazzled, and more than a little twitchy, when she had come in Weir had snapped a book shut and the poor girl had almost jumped out of her skin.

"She's a pervert like Ranma!" Akane accused.

""What do you mean by pervert?" Weir questioned.

"They own cheese whiz!" Akane pronounced, as if that was a capital crime.

"Cheese whiz?" Weir asked genuinely confused. The interview went on for another hour and by the end of it Weir knew she had been sold a turkey. The girl had obviously been mistreated to the point of derangement. It may have been the language problem, it may have been some sort of register problem but what ever excuse you tried the girl just came over as having a screw loose. Panda men indeed, imagine people changing species with the application of water. It was clear why Nabiki had sicked this wacko on her, the only question now was what to do with her.

"What shall I do with you?" Weir mused.

"Just please don't send me back to Kodachi-sama" the girl replied, but her body language made the request a lie. Weir was long used to political double speak.

"I am sorry Akane" Weir said, finally resolved "But I believe that miss Kuno may be the key to controlling this mess. I am afraid I need you to keep an eye on her. Get close to her…"

"But"

"For the planet" Weir ordered and Akane nodded with fake relucatance.

As she clumsily clunked out Weir was left no wiser than when the girl entered. Her coup had turned out to be a strikeout. "Damn Nabiki is good!" she swore, giving a big yawn. "I'll do something tomorrow." She resolved and went to bed.

As she was drifting off she finally managed to place the face and the name. Akane Tendo, the worst closeted lesbian rights activist in Japan. "Damn that girl is nuts!"

o

o

o

Time passed.

Nabiki got to know each and every one of her officers and bridge crew. She managed to redraw the schedules to use everyone's time better. She kept Everett busy doing drills and out of her hair. Weir's party was neutralised temporarily by giving them a full medical and mental review, followed by extensive emergency response training. She manager to rota on time every day to be spent with her daughter, and swing more than the occasional night with her husband.

Ranma-Ranko managed to slip off to get time with his wife and child on an irregular basis, but ended up seeing more of Kimiko during the daytimes than Nabiki did. He also managed to help Tomo with his bird and even get the test rig up and running. Only his phenomenal stamina kept him going, he was always up long before the rest of his shift and regularly went to bed long after. He made up for this by sleeping through nearly every lecture the command staff gave to the pilots. Of course the times he got caught sneaking off, sleeping in briefings, out of uniform (thanks mostly to Yuri) and 'aquiring' the parts he needed for his bird and the rig cost him two pay grades and more than one set of extra duties.

His Wingman, Yuri, got worse. She went through a string of catastrophic relationships, each one ending for frivolous reasons like her breaking the guy's nose by accident or them getting caught 'in flagrente' because she broke something. Only Ranma was causing more breakages, and at least his were for a purpose (even if it was only to see what a packing crate looked like when you blew it up with an overloading laser cell). So she too got busted down to ensign, and spent a great deal of time doing extra duties. Not that she minded all that much, after all they gave her a chance to check out guys on other shifts.

Cmdr Focker all but had a breakdown, somehow the two best pilots in his squadron were also the very worst disciplined agents on Nemesis. His Skulls were living up to their expectations, if not surpassing them, and the Dirty Pair, as they had become known, were a big part of that but it really was not easy. The only person who could sympathise with him was Cmdr Hayes, and many a night the two of them whiled away bitching about the shitty hand fate had dealt them.

Hayes loved her job. She was a forces brat, born and raised in khaki. She loved the responsibility, the authority and the respect that her position gave her. She was also starting to fall for the rapidly greying Focker. BUT she hated not being able to wash the dirty pair out. She had to admit that they were good, if not better. She also had to admit they worked harder than anyone else aboard, even if it wasn't entirely their choice. She could even concede that whenever she drew up new tactical plans she had come to value their input. But they were also living embodiments of the worst aspects of pilots, irresponsible, overconfident and oversexed.

Gos managed to turn Weir's private secretary. For all of three days before she dumped him for Kaji. To say he resented it would have been a major understatement. Unfortunately having been prevented from killing the man in question he took to drinking.

He was not alone. The Master Sergeant Major, Laura to her friends, was also hitting the bottle hard. Simply put she was ready to kill Everett. In 'training accidents' she had decked him twice, and shot him once but still the idiot wouldn't wise up and kept giving orders, Everything had to be learned twice, Everett's way and the right way. It took a lot of time and was really winding people up, but it was keeping her people out of trouble. Now if she could only get rid of Everett permanently. She had just about beaten her commandos into shape despite his best efforts but the strain was really telling.

Misato hardly noticed. She was the chairperson of the hard drinking posse and could often be found plastered within seconds of coming off duty. She and Laura had set up a still, not that Nemesis was a dry ship, but purely because the stuff the mess had about as much kick as a wet fish to them.

Weir and her group were poked and prodded in ways that they had never been before, most of which were necessary, but only most. They also spent a lot of time talking about their childhoods, which was completely unnecessary but passed the time fairly easily.

Richard was of course spared all of this, having apparently gone through it all for his first Mars mission. Instead he ended up spending his time with a young French psychic by the name of Louise. He was never quite sure how the relationship started but was rarely bothered by the memory gap, she had her 'ways' of 'distracting' him.

Kodachi 'kept' Akane, and everyone breathed a small sigh of relief. Despite their sympathy for the homicidal maniacs they needed them contained, and this way they tied up two problems with the same bullwhip.

Kimiko and Callum had formed a small gang with two other, older kids, and were probably the only people aboard who had seen some of the places they managed to crawl into. The psychologist assigned to look after them rapidly became one of the most pitied people aboard the ship. No matter what she tried she could not corral the kids, or curb their adventurous exploring. She joined the still suppers with a vengeance.

Together the crew advanced by leaps and bounds. Drills were refined to the point of muscular memory, wide contingencies planned for, and teams built solid. The pilots were now regularly beating anything the computer could design to throw at them and designing their own programs to make up the shortfall. Most of the programs were even related to flying missions. The baycrews worked like demons to refit the tactical craft with every new design that came out of the labs, and sent many ideas into them for refinement. The security staff became paranoid and suspicious, just like they should have been, and were soon having to be restrained for the interests of efficient working of the ship.

All in all the Dark Angels of the Nemesis were all but ready for the fight of their lives. And that fight drew ever closer.


	8. Breakout

** Chapter 8: Breakout**

"Breakout!" called the helmsman. The word was the culmination of one of the most anxious time of Nabiki's life. Ever since the Nemesis hit full lift every effort had been focused on surviving the next few minutes. At full lift there was effectively nothing external that anyone could do to interfere with the mission, the mechanics of the way the ship managed those speeds just prohibited it. But the moment the ship dropped back into real-space they would be vulnerable, more vulnerable than at any other moment before. The ship would still be using its power to slough off the excess energy of the full lift and unable to so much as raise a flicker shield.

If news of their destination had leaked, if the aliens had soehow managed to track their trajectory, if they were expected then they would be flying into a trap. They could expect a veritable fleet of hostiles waiting to welcome them with heated plasma. In their disabled ship their mission would come to a sudden dead halt.

So the massive ship was already in Red alert. The pilots were locked into their fighters, ready at their launch tubes. Gunners and point-defence operatives sat at their stations, waiting the moment the ship could divert enough power to make their efforts worthwhile. The battle bridge was fully manned. Everywhere the Dark Angels were on the edge of their nerves, prepared for the fight of their lives.

"Deploy!" ordered Cmdr Hayes over the Skull squadron tac-net, initiating the sudden acceleration of the pilots' vessels. Almost as one the squadron's pilots were pressed back into their seats, mass-driver catapults combining with vehicle engines accelerating them to tactical speeds in a matter of moments.

Ranma was one of the first out of the launch tubes, fighting off the threatened black-out and fighting the modified Valkyrie for control. His scanner flashed into life, desperately trying to make sense of the occupants of the starfield around them. Each friendly craft deployed from the Nemesis lit up in brilliant blue, unknowns in green and as yet no red unfriendlies.

With the others he scrambled for the Skulls' rendezvous, RV, point, boosters glowing a fiery orange, heavy lasers lit up and ready. Even as they began arriving messages were being relayed from the Nemesis. As Ranma took up his position on the leading edge of the Skulls' circling offensive crescent Misato's voice broke in over the tac-net.

"Primary threat not present. Do not stand down!" she ordered. "Locals identified as Alien unknowns. Proceed with caution."

Roy gave the order and the Skulls gunned their engines heading for the distant orange symbols that sat on their readouts. Behind them the Firestorms fell in to form the Nemesis's defensive screen and the lightning bombers formed up into their own crescents.

"Yuri and Ranko" Roy ordered "Close recon. Who are they, what are they doing?"

"Roger" the two replied, hitting their turbos and shifting up and taking their craft to the limit of their design specifications.

"This bitch is kicking like a mule!" Yuri complained, "make it stop Kei! I've got a date this evening!" As they rocketed towards the orange blips they gradually resolved themselves into real structures. In the middle was a large silver-grey, three pointed-star with a hub that blossomed like an obscene flower extending from its centre around it were a small clutch of spiky diamond shaped satellites. The space station at the centre glowed along its underside with a familiar orange Elerium fuelled light.

"I'm reading some new craft" Ranma replied; only twitching a little at Yuri's 'nickname' for him. Indeed three new icons had appeared on his readout, heading from the station, "Ops, can you get a more precise reading?"

"Read as three new bogeys, Wraith class, same as you met on the Endeavour," Misato reported, only realising afterwards that she had let a secret out of the bag.

"So lets see just how much better these guns are" Ranma muttered, jinking round into an attack vector. He didn't need to pass the message to Yuri, she fell in on his wing automatically, just as they had practised on the sims.

"Angels," Misato warned, "the furthest one is making a break for it. We cannot let it escape! Kill it now!"

"Cover me!" Ranma ordered, before suddenly pulling out the stops. His engine roared into life, his readouts simultaneously red-lining.

"Shit" swore Yuri, following suit.

Together they charged the remaining formation, splitting wide in opposite directions at the very last moment. Plasma light splashed off their shields, stripping them away like so many Moroccan veils.

"OW!" swore Yuri, "They're picking on me!" Indeed the two had both turned to attack the rear fighter. "They're just jealous cuz I'm so beautiful!"

"I'm after the runner!" Ranma told her.

"Wait!" Yuri swore "What about me?"

"Handle it!"

"What happened to never deserting a wingman?"

"Only counts for amateurs." Ranma informed her.

"I might get killed!" Yuri swore, "Or even worse bruised somewhere people might see!" Ranma ignored her and dumped more energy into the reactor. It complained, lights flashed, safeties tried to engage. Tomo had ripped then out days ago.

"Just a little further" Ranma whispered, "Come on baby, just a little more!" As if it heard him the bucking craft suddenly levelled and started to run smooth, there was a moments silence and then the whole craft leapt forwards with an almighty explosion that shook Ranma from his teeth to his toes. Spots burst in front of his eyes like fireworks over Sydney Harbour.

"MOTHER " he swore through gritted teeth. Suddenly his display lit up, a weapon lock. He jabbed the safety and squeezed off all his missiles, unable to make out more than the sudden extra flaring in front of his craft.

"CRACK" something in his ship gave, the noise transferring through its superstructure. Suddenly all semblance of control disappeared and he was thrown violently to the side, wrenching against the straps. He heard the double beep of a successful hit and then his world tore itself apart.

"oops"

o

o

o

Meanwhile Yuri was having the fight of her life. Whatever guns these 'wraiths' were packing were making short work of her shields and the little gits were doing a very good job of preventing her from getting much of a reprisal in.

So she dodged, and dodged and dodged. With an amazing set of high-g manoeuvres she managed to keep the damage down. By dumping her weapon's batteries into her shields she even managed to avoid too many penetrating shots.

"Er Guys?" she asked, "a little help?"

"Break oh one fifty" ordered Roy and she did what the hell she was told.

For the two alien craft what had been a turkey shoot suddenly went pear shaped. The void lit up with stabbing orange light, tearing into their all but untouched shields. They realised the sudden change in odds in time to make a run for it. They hauled their smart little craft around, pointing their noses at the distant starfields of home.

As they banked to run a barrage of missiles, coming in from nearly every direction, tore their vessels out from under them. Suddenly the alien pilots were exploded into vacuum and suffering the consequences. The last view of the eldest one was the hawklike wing of one of these invading fighters, as its projected shield tore him apart at the near cellular level.

In space no one can hear you scream. If you are an alien no one cares.

o

o

o

"Mission report" the words were written up on the screen, but they were meaningless. Nabiki had watched the entire show from her place on the bridge. From the moment 'Ranko' had taken point she had just known that it was not going to be a good day. Sh had watched her husband's craft's readouts red-out. She had seen the pilot life sign displays jump wildly, she had seen its sudden lurch and she had seen it scatter itself across the starfield.

Nabiki knew that she should have been happy, they had passed Breakout without any damage to the Nemesis. They had faced the enemy and won, a small victory but a vital one nonetheless. Three aliens taken out, plus a minor base station, and without losing a single craft to enemy action. The stats were better than they could have hoped for. But at that moment none of that mattered, Nabiki sat in her chair, hollow inside, it was now two hours since the Nemesis had entered Alien space and there was still no sign of her husband.

"- and following the incident in the hangar we are now two valkyries down." Misato's slurred voice droned on.

"Wait!" commanded Lisa, "Two?"

"Yes, er, pilot Valentine seems to have, er, forgotten to, er, lock her landing skids. Her fighter sort of crashed…"

"So we toast the bugs, without so much as a hint of danger, and TWO pilots trash my ships?" Lisa demanded. "I should have known, those girls are a bloody menace, permission to revoke flight status Ma'am!" To her shame Nabiki almost agreed, she knew Ranma would hate it, would scream and curse. But if that was the price of having him still breathing she would willingly pay it.

"Ma'am" prompted Lisa, only to be stopped by Misato's gentle touch.

"No" Nabiki said. "He is alive! Misato find him!" And with that she got up and left, leaving a very confused command staff.

"Aye Aye ma'am" Misato replied to the empty air. Then turning to Lisa she met the woman's mask of confusion with her own drunken determination, "increase the pattern, all ships!"

"But-

"Now!" Misato replied, "It's the least we can do, the least I can do" she quietly added, remembering the face of the man that had pulled her from the aliens' table all those years ago.

"I don't understand" Lisa admitted.

"Yours not to reason why…" Kodachi quoted, standing. "Come Akane we have work to do, HEEL!" she ordered and the very grumpy looking Akane followed, unable to comment because of a strategically placed duct-tape strip.

Lisa looked at Focker, he looked back trying for innocence, and together they looked at Evertett. The Colonel sat back, finally making the connections, he had the whelp now. A broad smile of triumph crossed his face.

"It seems, ladies and gentlemen, that the Captain" he all but spat the word "has been less than honest with us," He stood up, "Excuse me, I have some regulations to read."

Roy turned back to Lisa, who was suddenly looking at him very intently.

"You know something about this!" she stated.

"Er….. no?" he tried.

"Nice try pilot!" she observed, not meaning a word of it. "Spill!" she commanded.

o

o

o

Nabiki was in her quarters, playing with her daughter. The blessed child seemed oblivious to her mother's dark mood, instead concentrating on the latest adventures of "Baba" her doll. A doll that Kasumi had bought for her before they left, it had come wearing a pink dress and having ankle length blond hair. Ranma had helped his daughter make some modifications. Now 'Baba' wore grey combats, sported an array of weapons and had an identical cut to Kimiko's mother, but with red hair.

"Mama" Kimiko said

"Yes baby" Nabiki replied, lifting the child onto her lap.

"Daddy's okay" the child blurted, face serious.

"I hope so baby" Nabiki responded, clutching the child into a hug.  
"He is" Kimiko asserted. "I can hear him." Nabiki raised an eyebrow.

"You can?" she asked, "Where." Half humouring her child, and half deperate with hope.

"In here" Kimiko said tapping her head, "Daddy's sleeping now"

"Is he" Nabiki asked, hopes plummeting again.

"He's dreaming about you" Kimiko replied seriously, lip jutted out.

"What's he dreaming?" Nabiki asked, tolerantly.

"Its one of those things you are gonna tell me about when I'm olderer" Kimiko replied. "He's kissing you an you-"

"Whoa" Nabiki interrupted, "What did we tell you about listening to mommy-daddy stuff"

"The shrinks will cost too much" Kimiko said in a sing-song voice meant to sound like her mother. Nabiki squeezed her tightly, her smile back.

"Tell him to come home" Nabiki whispered.

"Okey dokey" Kimiko replied. waving her doll.

o

o

Drifting alone in space was not all it was cracked up to be. Ranma was all too aware that he was really stuffed, and the rate he was spinning meant that the view pretty much sucked too. The readouts had been saying bad ever since he first came to, apparently he had a chunk of his fighter stuck through his pack, killing all his suit's energy reserves. Without energy he was stuck with the air in the tanks, the very little air in the tanks. Fortunately that wouldn't be a problem, without power he was going to freeze to death first. He was already numb everywhere but behind his left eye, for some reason the only place he could feel his body's protests.

Deep within his Zen-shin he had slowed his heart rate and breathing to levels just beyond collapse, fully aware that this was not going to help his frostbite, but resigned to fight until the end. He had thought about stabilising his trajectory but decided that the energy expended was better used keeping him alive. He had effectively resigned himself to suffering severe frostbite and possibly losing appendages, in return he was doing everything he could to keep his brain fed.

Despite all of this he was slipping in and out of consciousness. Delirium freely mixing with reality. He had lost all track of time, At this very moment he was just coming out of a particularly vivid dream about Nabiki, some chocolate sauce and a waterbed. He wasn't that gutted though, Kimiko had come running into the room just before the dream had faded and they had been forced to scramble to hide their 'mommy-daddy stuff.'

Suddenly his arm hurt. This was a very new feeling, he had thought that it was dead some time ago. At the same moment the starfield came into sharp focus, this was also new. Somewhere in his mind a small voice was shouting something but whatever it was the rest of Ranma was far too absorbed in the arm thing to care.

o

o

"Got him!" shouted Faye, she was operating a grapple arm and managing it with more than a little skill. Aboard a modified maintenance ERV she and her mismatched 'rescue crew' had been scouring the area. In the end they had given up on all the scientific help and just stabbed a marker into the starfield repeatedly. It had therefore come as quite a surprise to actually find the missing pilot. Which had brought them to this next problem, how to catch her. Hence the claw ended arm.

"Gently" demanded Spike, "we don't get no rewards if you break her now!"

"Shhh!" Faye corrected, "Like to see you do better!"

"then move over" he replied, as if to a child.

"Have you got her?" demanded the pint-sized pipsqueak at the other controls.

"Yes" replied Faye. "Now what?"

"I'll suit up and bring her in through the airlock" Spike said, pulling his shirt off. Faye looked at him, but refused to comment.

With a lot of work they managed to manhandle the well built; girl into the small ERV, and Edward was immediately there with the med kit, and a repair kit for the suit pack. Togther they pumped the pilot full of drugs designed to keep her breathing, and cranked up the heat on her suit and in the cabin.

When the redhead gave a low shuddering gasp they all breathed a big sigh of relief.

"Well hot-damn" Spike swore, "This has got to be worth an extra pass!"

"At least" agreed Faye, and they were soon heading back for Nemesis at full throttle.

It was only when Ed 'eeped' that they turned to look at their passenger again. Ed had tried to help with a warm sponge, with some very unexpected results.

"Er..correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't he a she just now?" Faye asked, nobody replied.

o

o

o

"Ow!" Ranma swore. He had awoken a few seconds ago, lying on a medical couch. The first thing he had seen was the angry face of his Master Sergeant Major. The next thing he saw was her fist. "What the hell was that for?" he demanded, noting that something was off.

"Frightening me you twerp!" she swore, and punched him again for good measure. They were just the gentle taps that the two of them had long used to emphasise certain points but at this moment with pins and needles affecting every inch of his body the extra pain was less than welcome.

Then Ranma finally noticed, 'his body'.

"I'm a guy!" he said.

"Well done dummy" Laura replied, "Not much of one but hey I guess it was cold or something"

"What?" he asked looking down and noticing that yes, he was naked, and yes the cold had affected him. "Oi!" he demanded looking around for clothes. In doing so he tried to sit up, it didn't work. "Ow" he complained again.

"If you think that hurts" Laura whispered, helping him to lean back slowly, "think what Nabiki's gonna do to you later"

"Shit" he swore, half in pain and half in anticipation.

"Get better stud," she whispered mockingly, but squeezing his hand gently, "we're gonna need you."

Before he could ask what she was talking about he was lowered into the regenerative green goo below.


	9. Storm Rising

** Chapter 9: Storm Rising**

"Transferring command now" the ensign called. The Nemesis was at full tactical speed and within moments would come upon the gathering point of the Alien armada. Nabiki nodded her acknowledgement and allowed herself a moment of relaxation. She sat back in her seat and just for that moment let the universe go by without her. Staring out at the starfield on the viewer she allowed herself to look at the lights with the eyes of a little girl. Instead of alien logistical sources she saw harmless lights. For that moment the alien menace was the myth and all the old fables that told of the birth of stars became the reality. She allowed herself a wry smile.

Ever since breakout Ensign Pervis had been scared. That fear had been gradually rising ever since that fateful moment and the lack of a real fight had not made things any easier. When the ship had been placed onto red alert a cold void had settled in his stomach. As the final controls were shifted to the battle bridge he could hardly contain his shivers. In desperation he looked around the room for a way out. Instead he saw his captain, sat there in her chair with a smile on her face. He, like everyone else aboard, had heard the scuttlebutt, and even if he didn't believe it all he did know that his captain, with all her family aboard, had a lot more to lose than he did. Yet there she was smiling. Suddenly all his fears seemed somehow silly. He was a professional, well practiced in the drills that had been designed for just the battle that was coming, there was risk true but that was part of the job. As Pervis turned back to his console his face wasn't smiling, but it was set with a new determination. He was scared but more than that he was determined to do his duty.

It had been nearly twenty-four hours since the Nemesis had dropped from full lift. During that time the vessel had been burning heavy mass, but doing it on a parabolic course. Although this course required more mass and even more time than a direct route it was hoped the benefits would far outweigh the losses. From everything the 'eggheads' had managed to decode and decipher from previous captures the alien early warning system would not be able to identify the threat coming as it was by this roundabout course. The final approach was being masked by the emissions of the system's own gas giant.

Unfortunately the same oblique approach had rendered the X-com vessel just as blind. They would be once again operating on projected scenarios and probability.

O

O

Down on the flight deck everything was once more in place. For the Dark Angels chosen to fly this mission this next hour would be the most important single time of their lives. Codenamed 'Hammerfall' the battle to come had been simulated more than any other point in history. If breakout had been the most dangerous time for Nemesis this next hour was its reason for existence.

No speeches had been made, there was no need. Over the long weeks of lift they had run scenario after scenario through the simulators. If the pilots did not know what they faced by now then they never would. Still there was an almost electric feeling running through the deck. Hope, fear, anxiety, courage and many more emotions all warred for there place in the hearts of the pilots about to drop into danger.

Roy sat in his Valkyrie silently wishing that the dirty pair were flying with him. This mission would either see the birthing or breaking of the Legend of Nemesis. If his people and the other pilots could pull Hammerfall off then Earth would be safe, the Alien menace staved off once more. If they failed then no doubt Earth would suffer all the more. Hammerfall was humanity's best hope for the species, and that hope rested on the Dark Angels and specifically on the pilots now standing ready. He knew that the squadron complement was far closer to optimal than most of the scenarios they had practised but he also knew that the whole squadron were drawn to excel by the antics of the two absent rogues.

He switched his targeting and sensor computers off and then on again, ran though the diagnostics yet another time. One time not so long ago he had caught Ranko practising her katas in the gym. He had interrupted with a cough only to suddenly find himself within fractions of an inch of the red-head's incoming fist. That hadn't been what chilled him to the bone though, it had been the look in her eyes. He had been stunned to see the emotionless mask that had fallen across the beautiful young woman's face. He had broached the subject over lunch in the canteen but had not expected the answers.

"Cuz I ain't got no emotions when I'm zoned" Ranko had replied. "That's the Zen- shin, or No Mind."

"So you cut yourself off from the world?" Roy had asked, getting it completely wrong.

"Nah" Ranko replied, "Other way around. I cut myself out of the world's way."

"Huh?"

"The Zen warrior is in perfect harmony with existence, because they are no longer separate from it."Ranko tried to explain, "Think of it like an ice-cube in water. You're the cube see, and when you melt properly you're part of the whole, but when.."

"That makes no sense at all" Roy retorted.  
"Hey those who can do, only those who can't teach" Ranko replied.

"Excuse me?" Roy demanded, "I teach! Are you saying that I'm one of the 'can'ts'?"

"You said it" Ranko replied, "Not me."

"That's it!" Roy had retorted, "Sims now! Dogfight, mano-a-cocky bitch"

"You are on!" Retorted the Red-head with a big happy smile.

Roy had had his ass handed to him. He still didn't know how but the dog-fight had been a regular thing till breakout. As far as he understood it there had been a significant pool on the outcomes. The military was the same everywhere they went, gambling was as much part of the structure as Rank.

Roy realised he was allowing his focus to drift and called it back, setting his face into the determined mask it had been.

"Lisa?" he called over the coms.

"Ok" she replied, obviously a little more stressed than she let on if she was reverting to the colloquial.

"Can I get a status-rep on my squadron, bird by bird?"

"Sure," Misato replied, "I'll get right on it"

"Thanks"

"No worries." Misato replied, obviously calmer again. "And Roy…..stay well out there!" she added with a rare emotional edge.

"I'll try," Roy replied, letting his own mask slip just enough.

o

o

"But I'm a Valkyrie pilot" Yuri demanded.

"Not today you ain't" Misato corrected. They were on the battle bridge. "You broke your Valkyrie at the same time you did your arm. There is no way I am putting you in a bird!"

"But I'm a pilot!"

"Not today," Misato insisted "Today you are a bridge bunny. Now go!"

"Hai Misato-sama" Yuri replied, grudgingly, taking a seat at one of the back-up consoles.

"Time to target?" Misato asked.

"T minus ten and counting" was the reply.

"Ready all launch tubes" Misato ordered. "Power the crowbar!"

"Aye Aye" chorused the crew concerned.

"I want every last joule of energy ready for zero hour!" Misato ordered. "Lisa, warn your birds!"

"Aye Aye!"

o

o

"Operatives" Gos started. He was standing in the specially designed Psi-ops command, around him were arrayed the entire Namesis psi-ops specialist team. Behind them stood the banks of buffers and amplifiers that would hone the agents' minds to the fine edge needed for the job at hand. "This is our finest hour!" Around the head psycher more than one set of eyes rolled. "Earth expects every operative to do her duty!"

The various agents began strapping themselves into the apparatus that surrounded them. Upright berths closed around each operative, cutting them off from all physical stimuli and immersing them into the psychic collective.

Gos was worried. Each agent had a designated function within the hybrid consciousness, defensive, offensive or tactical. Each one was well rehearsed in the actions expected of them and well practised in their implementation. But only Gos and two others had ever been inside an alien mind and only he had faced real alien assault. Added to that he harboured real concerns about the alien psychic threat. Simply put nobody had been able to give an accurate idea of its likely scale. The aliens that were captured aboard the Endeavour had been aware of psi-weapons but not their capabilities.

So Gos had trained his team hard. Each and every one of them was capable beyond the wildest dreams of the original psi-labs. Each agent strapping themselves in was an expert in psychic warfare, a finely crafted weapon tempered by continual testing and assault. They had new skills and techniques that had been developed as scientifically as any gauss rifle and just as deadly.

Nevertheless Gos was worried. One word kept running through his head "Queens."

o

o

Everett was in his element. He had literally written the book on installation defence. Even if the book had later been revised by others he was still the self-appointed authority on the subject.

His troops were bunched in hardpoints ready to repel any incursion. Each team was equipped with the prescribed variety of weapons and munition capabilities. His web was strung and he was set to pounce

"And what's more" me said to himself, sitting in his command room just off the battle bridge, "All the credit for this victory will be mine!" In his hand he held a single sheet of paper. An order drafted according to all the highest rules of UN servicemen, relieving Nabiki of command. The moment she displayed the first of wavering he would have her, and her ship. "General Everett" he tried on the title for size and once again found he loved it.

o

o

"Shut your mush and move" Laura hissed. She was slowly and sneakily moving her people out of the death-traps that Everett had insisted on. She had tried doing things by the book but the scunner just wouldn't hear a word she had to say. So she was doing things the Alpha way, right!

"Ditch the taser stick and check out a real weapon!" she ordered. She would never be able to figure out what had possessed the idiot officer to order her people so lightly armed but she sure as hell wasn't letting them lose the big one because her people didn't have the tools for the job.

"Master Sergeant Major?" a young lieutenant asked tentatively, trying not to be obvious about having his hands at the ready position if she started swinging.

"Aye?" she asked, her voice thickly accented, not a good sign.

"Er..hadn't we better um check the er redeployment erm options with the er.."

"Colonel?" Laura filled in. "I din'nae think that's a gud idea!" she all but growled.

"But…"

"NO!" she ordered her 'superior' "The man's a bleeding menace." She swore. "Look Sir" she continued, emphasising the honorific enough to make it less respectful, "Either you're with us or…." The young officer made his decision with little hesitation.

"I'll run interference" he offered. She favoured him with a smile and a slap on the back. At that moment that small gesture was worth more than any medal. From that moment on the young Lieutenant's career took a different, better path, he became a real soldier too.

Not getting decked was nice too.

o

o

Richard was fuming. He had just discovered exactly what Weir and Everett had been talking about. It was bad enough that the two of them had conspired to get him his marine command but now the pair were after Nabiki's seat. It was intolerable. His confrontation with Elisabeth had gone very badly indeed and Richard was still smarting from her harsh words.

After their 'discussion' about ethics just before breakout the relationship between the two former friends had become very strained indeed. For once the argument had not been about the ethics of alien relations. Instead Richard had once again been insisting that Elisabeth watch the mission logs. She had once again repeated her argument that she had more important things to do than watch the television all day and that the written versions were more than adequate. Both of them knew that the real reason the woman was being o troublesome was the way that Security had insisted on vetting her again before censoring the logs she could see. The censorship had come as a stark reminder that she was not in a position of trust here. Weir had uncharacteristically become all but irrational and had lashed out by refusing to co-operate. After overhearing the way that Everett and her talked Richard had a fair idea where that attitude had come from.

Coming from a woman who had always seemed to harbour a passionate dislike of all things military the revelation of a clandestine affair with Everett that had been going on for some time had come as quite a shock.

Richard had walked in on the two of them by mistake. He had stormed out of a meeting in a fury only to reconsider and return. When he did the two secret lovers had tried very hard to hide what they were up to but Richard was no fool and had been extracting secrets from reluctant people for all his professional life. Nevertheless he had made very sure that as far as the couple were concerned he knew nothing.

Naturally he had gone to make discrete inquiries as to whether the security service knew. Captain Kaji had dismissed his enquiries out of hand, assuring him that they already knew everything that he might tell them.

Suddenly Richard found himself standing at the entrance to the Main Bridge. Here it was, the crunch point. Who was he?

"Hah" Richard laughed, he ahd made that decision a long time ago. He took a step forward and moved onto the bridge, his Rubicon was crossed, when it came down to it Richard was a man of principle. The old Richard might have let things take their course but that man died on Mars sat in front of a viewscreen.

o

o

Ranma floated, he wasn't very happy about it but he really didn't have a choice. He had seen the scans and even his ability to shrug off injury was no match for how messed up he had been when they brought him in.

Without the goo tank he would certainly have lost most of his right leg and all but all of his left. He had simply been out there in the dark for far too long, and his body had died, just without his mind accepting it.

So he floated there in the tank, slowly stretching and working his muscles back into order. As usual for him in these tanks he was bored out of his tiny little mind and had already exhausted his patience for meditation. At the moment he was letting his mind drift, reminiscing.

Last night the doctors had unexpectedly started to file out, leaving him apparently alone in the chamber. It was only when he looked up and found out exactly who had ordered the agents out that he had relaxed.

A nurse had come running in a few moments later, worried by the spike in his heart rate. Fortunately for everyone concerned by that point her Captain was already out of sight, the only trace being a pile of discarded clothes at the top of the access stairs. The nurse in question had checked the patient monitor, and when she finally worked out what she was seeing had left in quite a hurry.

Ranma's doctors were telling him that peak efficiency was a long way off, and refusing to tell him any more than that. He suspected, rightly, that they had been warned that to do otherwise might well cause an instant check-out of their patient.

He knew that zero hour must be fast approaching and was becoming more anxious about missing it.

"Hey doc?" Ranma called over the tank-phone. "Any chance of a tac-feed?"

"A what?" the doctor asked, peeling his eyes away from a certain replay.

"Tac-feed" Ranma restated, "you know, Tactical read out, com channels and stuff…"

"I'll see what I can so Colonel" the man replied, somewhat testily.

"Wonder what got him so pissed" Ranma mused, going back to his exercises.


	10. Storm Cell

**Chapter 10: Storm Cell.**

"Skulls Launch!" Roy commanded. He smacked the release and felt the familiar full body compression as he was thrown clear of the Nemesis. Hammerfall was on!

The Nemesis had come out from the protection of the gas giant and launched itself at the mass of UFO's orbiting the space station beyond. It was only as she moved into tactical range that the full scope of the battle was realised.

Nearly a thousand vessels were gathered around three stations in stationary orbit between the fourth and fifth planets. They ranged from robotic drones to the a station that dwarfed even the facilities on Demios. In between these extremes existed everything from garbage scows to full fledged battleships. It was far far more than anyone had expected.

"Zulus!" Someone swore "Thousands of 'em"

"Zip it!" Roy ordered, "Lock attack vectors and peel in!" With perfect timing the Skulls peeled off to attack the primaries allocated from the battle bridge, turbos flaring.

o

"Damn" Nabiki swore, "Are you seeing this Commander?"

"Yep" replied Misato, "And either someone got me pissed without telling me or we are looking at double the projected resistance."

"You aren't drunk" assured Nabiki. "Options?"

"None Captain" Misato replied, "Even if we could recall the fighters we have nowhere to run."

"Then we go with pattern Alpha Zero-One!" Nabiki ordered, steeling herself.

"Aye Aye," Misato replied, waving her hand at the bunnies. The Nemesis was here to fight. "Annie, crobar for Zulu one niner" she ordered and began the fight of her life.

o

o

"Splash Two!" Shouted Roy triumphantly. The shock of their first attack had carried the Skulls well into the enemy formation and targets of opportunity were literally lining up for destruction.

He pulled a sharp high starboard wheel to come about on his wingman's bogey and had the chance to see the Nemesis.

She hung their in space like a steel sword pointed at the heart of the Alien Armada. All around her swarmed the craft that were firing from every tube. Some were gathering for attack runs others taking up defensive stations. Suddenly the front end of the Earth ship blossomed into fire, like a small sun being born. From the formerly dark hole of the Meson Driver came a Heavy Mass high energy projectile. It was travelling fast enough to leave a streak across Roy's vision, and obliterating all the 'minors' that were between it and its target, the foremost battleship.

The projectile hit, and disappeared through both shield and carapace, and for a moment it seemed that was all. Then the Battleship lit up with the same light the HMHEP had projected. Within a heart-beat the entire vessel was no more, scattering itself across the starield, incidentally neatly identifying those ships that were as yet unshielded.

"WHOO HA!" Yelled Roy as he came in for his run on the suddenly disorientated enemy. "Splash Three!"

o

o

Yuri was having a great time. Somehow she had found herself manning the 'crowbar' firing mechanism. Even though she had seen the simulations, even listened to some of the mechanics of the weapon she had never expected the full experience of the gun.

All of a sudden everything went out, all through Nemesis every last spark of energy produced was crammed into the waiting missile. At the same time the Meson Cyclotron dumped its load into the firing breach.

The missile threw the entire vessel against its own momentum, suddenly lurching the Nemesis from beak to burner. It travelled at close to the same speed the ship managed in full lift. The difference being that this projectile had no intention of slowing.

At it impacted into the battleship providing close defence the missile dumped its energy straight into the molecular bonds of the vessel. The result was annihilation.

"YEE HA!" Yuri cried, "Again Again!" she pleaded.

"Er the MMA takes a while to whiz up the thingamies," the nearest bunny explained, almost helpfully. Yuir pouted.

"We have incoming!" warned another bunny from across the room.

"Type and Number?" Misato requested.

"Roughly a hundred light fighters" the bunny replied, "Plus some larger unidentified"

"Alert all Firestorms, activate defence cannon." Misato ordered, "Continue closing!"

o

o

"Shit!" swore Flight Lieutenant Rogers. He was working high defence in his Firestorm II. Currently it was powered down and waiting for opposition, reduced to manoeuvring thrusters for conservation of momentum. From the mothership orders had suddenly arrived to engage the incoming enemy and it was only now really hitting home how badly outnumbered he and his comrades were.

But Rogers was a professional and with the others of his squadron he followed orders. They dove in to attack at maximum range.

"X-Com, Death from Above!" he cried, lasers stabbing out ahead of him.

o

o

"What's going on out there Pervis?"

"Not good" he replied, staring at the monitors in front of him.

"What do you mean," someone, a pretty brunette, objected, "We're creaming their asses!"

"Kicking their asses! Dumkoff!" corrected the blond Russian next to her. "But you is right what you mean Perv?"

"Pervis" he retorted automatically. "What I mean is that the aliens are starting to rally. We can expect stronger resistance from now on."

"Oh"

"Oh" replied the two other bridge crew.

o

o

Rogers came in for another run, fully aware that his shields had taken vows and become holier than an island dwelling nun.

"Eat Laser death Alien Filth!" he cried, clenching the fire controls He never even saw the Elerium fuelled missile that hit the side of his fighter. In an instant he and his craft became a ball of burning slag. His parents would be told that he didn't suffer, it was close to true.

O

o

Roy had pulled around onto a new attack vector, only to find his target missing, another 'crowbar' from the Nemesis had unintentionally wiped it from the face of the universe on its way to the main station.

He took the heartbeat's respite to check out the state of the fight s a whole.

Nemesis, surrounded by the stunning lightshow of its point defence and turreted cannon was now entering the edge of the alien formation. All around her swarmed masses of fighter, made insect-like by the vessels bulk but clearly stinging the depleting shields of the carrier. His squadron was semi-dispersed, using the enemies' own numbers to thwart weapon locks and dodging in and out of the tight packed formations of inactive vessels.

"Don't you throw those bloody spears at me!" demanded that same skull, weaving around the spiralling wreckage of another battleship, glowing torpedo hot on his tail.

"I'm on it!" cried Roy, wrenching around for a fire solution on the missile itself.

o

o

"What the hell is she doing?" mused Misato, watching the power spike grow aboard the enemy station. "There's far too much in between her and us for a main weapon."

"Red Squadron at three quarter strength!" called Lisa.

"Deploy ERV's" Misato ordered, without looking up, "but only the heavies, somehow I don't think the Aliens respect red-crosses." Misato was still puzzled. "Warn all flights to stay clear of the main base, she's up to something!" she ordered, silently adding "If only I knew what!"

Suddenly, like a flowering bulb the aliens at the centre of their formation flowed outwards. In an instant the Nemesis was looking straight at their opposite number, and the power spike had just levelled.

"Emergency Evasion!" Misato ordered, "All hands brace for impact!"

Indeed from the side of the monstrous construction came a blast of deep purple coherent plasma light. Nemesis veered off suddenly, all thrusters firing. Several unfortunate vessels were 'bounced' by her deflectors. It wasn't enough; the comet struck Nemesis aft of engineering, her shields barely slowing the balst.

Everything flickered. Lights dimmed, sirens wailed, alarms rang. All over the ship the impact was felt. Unfortunately the battle bridge was deliberately set aft. The fact that it was directly connected to so mush of the rest of the ship also meant that feedback hit there worst of all. Heat and voltage warred, blowing through shunts and surge protectors by sheer force of will. There may have been a hole right through the ship but suddenly that was the least of their worries.

Lightning arced across the Battle bridge, flash frying all the hair off one bunny's head and leaving another permanently twitchy. The tactical commander was flung from her position onto the floor, head smacking off a panel on the way down. Everything went dark.

O

o

"Misato?" Nabiki called over the intra ship. It was only then the commander realised that she wasn't dead.

"Huh?" she replied, wondering why she hadn't made it to her bed last night.

"I need a sit rep on the Battle bridge!" Nabiki demanded.

"Uh" Misato replied, forcing her eyes open. "We're screwed," she offered.

o

Back on the main bridge Nabiki knew the time had come. She had trained for this but somehow had never really expected it. "Okay, do what you can," Nabiki ordered."Control assumed!" she finished, turning back to the main viewer.

"Throw crowbar power to shields!" she ordered, "Get us closer to the behemoth!"

"Closer?" Pervis asked, incredulous.

"Closer?" echoed Richard from her left.

"Trust me," Nabiki replied with a grin. "Uhurra get me the MSM of Marines asap!"

"What are you planning?" Richard asked.

"Payback, old school style!" Nabiki replied, switching the channel. "Gos?" she asked.

"Hai" he replied, as if from deep below.

"How's it going?"

"Hard work!" he replied, "There is something new out there and she's STRONG!"

"Can you cope?" she asked.

"We are on full defensive" he replied, "Anything you can do will help!"

"Damn!" Nabiki swore, cutting the channel. "Uhuura?"

"Just getting her now."

"Moshi Moshi" came Laura's voice in very badly accented imitation Japanese. "what can I do for you?"

"I need you to assemble a strike team" Nabiki explained, "All Alphas, no makeweights."

"What's the score?"

"Bug City," Nabiki offered. Laura whistled in response.

"Can do," she replied, changing to the marine net. "Alright you lilly livered lowlanders I need some volunteers, that means you, you, you and you, but definitely not you Kenny"


	11. Storm Cell ii

**Storm Cell pt ii**

"All hands prepare for thrust!" ordered the pilot. Even as he said the words his right hand clenched around the launch contrl and threw the assault shuttle from the Nemesis's flight deck.,

"One express elevator to hell!" shouted a corporal, "Going down!"

"Can it!" commanded Laura, "Get focused, we will be going in hot and heavy!"

"Yes Ma'am!" the commando chorused in response.

"ETA three minutes!" informed the pilot. Laura just nodded and buckled herself in, ready for the moment the shuttle would crash through the enemy vessel's hull.

O

O

O

"Roy" Nabiki called over the tac-net.

"Yes captain" he replied, somewhat strained because of the full G turn he was pulling in order to throw off yet another alien intent on cleaning his clock.

"I need a high escort for the _Invader, _can you provide?" she asked.

"Yes boss, just give me two secs to splash this asshole!" Roy answered, coming out of his turn at point blank range with his pursuer. Heartbeats later the alien's craft was shattering into glowing fragments and its body burning in an elerium fuelled fire. "Oh and boss," Roy continued.

"What?" she asked, more curious than annoyed.

"We could sure use some more ammo out here"

"How bad is it?" she asked.

"Three reds and everyone else is orange" he replied, meaning real bad.

"Message received," Nabiki confirmed, "I'll do what I can."

O

O

O

"We are scrambling again" said lieutenant Valentine to her crew. "Hot deliveries and more pickups" she explained, somewhat unnecessarily. The rest of her crew leapt up from their rest station and ran with her towards their ERV, pulling up zips and sealing suits as they went.

"What the flying…..?" she called, suddenly brought up by the sight of a shouting, well built Japanese man pelting across her path. The fact that all he was wearing seemed to be a sheen of oil from the med tank just made the whole thing seem even more extraordinary.

"Tomo? Where the hell are you?" the naked hunk called, stopping for a second to look around.

"I know that butt" Valentine mused, "Ranma?" she asked.

"Hi babe," he replied in a hurry, still apparently oblivious to his nakedness "seen Tomo anywhere?"

"Not recently" she replied.

"Cheers anyway" he called before dashing off again for another area of the hangar.

"Nice to SEE you too" she muttered.

"Damn, he's huge!" whispered her co-pilot.

"You didn't think the Captain would settle for anything less than the best did you?" Valentine asked, receiving only a slow head shake in response.

O

O

O

"Tomo" said the voice, just before someone grabbed her ankle and dragged her out from under the ship she was repairing. It was a battered looking shuttle of an old type, with strangely new looking thrusters housing on its tail.

"WHAT?" she demanded angrily, only then looking at the figure that had so rudely interrupted her. The rebuke about being 'too busy for anyone not on her flight' died on her lips. There was Ranma, naked as the day he was born and shining like a Japanese version of a Greek god. He was also standing over her with certain very prominent aspects of himself far to close for modesty. "Er hum" she coughed, pointedly drawing his attention to those parts and their proximity to her face.

"What?" he said, following her gaze, before exploding into a deep beetroot red and diving into the ship she was repairing with a strangled "eep" noise.

"Let me guess you want into the fight?" Tomo called after him, smiling and filing the encounter for later recall.

"Uh Huh" he agreed, frantically searching for anything to preserve his modesty.

"The Sergeant major left some gear with me on her way out" Tomo replied, "and I have been fitting this bastard up as fast as I can so that we can have a way of catching up."

"She did?" Ranma wondered, "Danm that woman is good, wonder where she gets it from." Just then he found the suit and weapons rig and started dressing. "Oh yeah and what do you mean we?" he asked, pulling on the harness at full speed.

"There is no way in hell you are going to push this bastard as fast as you need to without me standing over it with a hammer" she replied, once more underneath the vessel, fusion torch flaring.

"Fine, but you clear off as soon as I get out" he replied.

"Like I would do anything else" she offered scornfully, suppressing a shudder as she recalled some of the mission logs she had watched in training.

"When you gonna be done?" he asked, pulling himself into the flight seat to check the controls.

"Any second now" she replied. "Sooner if a certain someone shuts his overworked gob."

"Fine" he answered only slightly sarcastically, "excuse me for breathing."

"Fire her up" Tomo commanded. Ranma slapped the ignition and cranked the variance up, in response the modified shuttle roared into life, bright blue flares bursting from its turbo's.

"OOH baby!" Ranma cheered, "Feel that horsepower! What the hell have you put in there?"

"Bit of this bit of that" she replied, beaming with pride, "You know me always tinkering!"

"Well get your sweet tinkering tail in here cuz we have gottamove" Ranma ordered, flicking the switches and firing up the coms to get clearance. Tomo had no sooner buckled herse;f into the seat behind him when he dropped the gravs and let the drag-shuttle throw itself out of the bay like a semi-piloted missile.

"WHOOOOO YEAH!" he screamed, thrust compressing him into the seat.

O

O

O

"What the hell was that?" asked Nabiki, suddenly aware of the newest launch, if only because of the oversized flare that was driving it.

"Flight officer Saotome just took out a _Pacer _class" replied the bunny in charge of the launch bay.

"Who did the what with the which now?" Nabiki quizzed, "Are you saying that my injured husband just took off in an obsolete, unarmed rustbucket?"

"Er… maybe" the bunny replied.

"Crazy ass son of a.." Nabiki swore, "okay then. Mary I want that vessel recalled and escorted back to the bay right now!"

"Er Ma'am" interrupted another bunny.

"What is it?" Nabiki replied.

"I don't think we can catch it," he answered, "the Pacer is doing twice what our firestorms usually manage.."

"What?" Nabiki asked, now thoroughly confused. "Never mind, we don't have time for this. Just clear a path wherever they are headed and flash them up as friendly."

"Yes ma'am" Mary replied.

"Now lets get back to those incomers" Nabiki continued, putting her husband's plight out of her mind by sheer effort of will. For the moment the incoming alien reinforcements were a more pressing problem.

"We have a firing solution" called the man who had taken over at Weaps.

"Light them up!" Nabiki ordered, crossing her fingers. Even as she said the order the ship gave a slight shudder. Every gun and missile tube fired in a massive salvo, designed to obliterate the newcomers.

O

O

O

O

"Holy Hell!" Tomo swore as the nighted blackness of space suddenly flared into bright day. "What the hell was that?"

"Full spread from the Nemesis" Ranma replied, still wrestling with the controls to keep the bucking shuttle pointed at the same rough area.

"Aren't we a little off course?" Tomo asked, seeing only empty space ahead of the shuttle.

"If you were a bug and saw this thing coming at you full tilt what would you assume?" Ranma asked, strain showing in his voice.

"Er that it wasn't going to stop?" she replied.

"Exactly" Ranma prompted.  
"So you're saying they probably think we're some kind of Kamikaze?" she guessed.

"I reckon" he replied.

"They'll cream us!" she said, somewhat alarmed.

"only if they get the chance" Ranma replied, "I am gonna need a few more delta-V's from this thing" he finished, asking for still more thrust.

"And then?" she asked.

"Then I might just be able to crash us by the bastard's spout" he replied, "and give us enough of an angle to board without being turned into inertial pancakes"

"Whoa hotshot," Tomo called, "what happened to staying in the boat?"

"Circumstances screwed it!" he replied.

"Fine but I'm checking your figures" she asserted, "It's not that I don't trust your maths but I don't trust your maths"

"Fine… but Tomo"

"Yes"

"Speed first, and hurry!"

"Uh huh" she replied, cranking open another section on the engine. The results were an instant leap in the temperature in the cockpit and a massive lurch forwards.

"Ranma?" she asked

"Uh huh?" he prompted

"How many rads can we stand before we start to cook?"

"No idea, but my suit says we are at slow-bake already"

"Oh"

"So we spend another week or two in the goo tanks, big deal"

"Hey" she admonished, "some of us don't much like the idea of being naked in front of all those orderlies. Some of us have some modesty!"

"I don't know, you forget your clothes once and all of a sudden you're a streaker…"

o

o

o

o

"Mother Trucker!" Laura swore, ducking behind another bulkhead. The other side of which was immediately plastered with high energy plasma. Her team had made good headway for the first while but then things ad gone 'squirly.' A sudden massive psi-assault had floored half her team and left everyone else twichy as hell. Immediately on the heels of the psychic attack had come wave after wave of sectiod soldiers. Right now the only thing keeping her team alive seemed to be the bugs' reluctance to use their heavy weapons so close to their reactors.

"Gos says he'll do what he can" reported her number two. They had manage to rig a burst transmitter and get a message back to Nemesis. "That was the good news" the man continued, "the bad news is that the colonel has got involved in organising our reinforcements."

"Shit" Laura swore again, in her mind fully aware that her CO would take for ever to organise anything and that whatever he did organise would probably only need rescued anyway. She may have been being unfair on the Marine commander but then again maybe she wasn't.

"Okay Sly" she ordered, "pattern Beta five nine! We have to move NOW!"

o

o

o

o

"10"

Tomo and Ranma's modified shuttle was by now burning itself up at a dangerous rate. They had just thrown it around the imaginary corner and were set on an all but collision course with the main Alien station. Tomo's rapid checks had found no real problems with Ranma's maths and the two of them were sat ready to bail out at the correct moment

"9"

Between them they had managed to turn the heavily modified engine into every bit the Kamikaze charge that the ship appeared to be. It too was looking seriously close to meltdown.

"8"

Once the Pacer went by the installation it would find itself pointed straight at the largest of the Battleships engaging the Nemesis, and still travelling at speeds closer to that of missiles.

"7"

With any luck the battleship would fail to see the ship coming and let it through its net by sheer oversight.

"6"

It was a longshot sure but there was no way in hell that the Pacer was ever going to make it back to the Nemesis, even assuming none of the enemy interceptors decided that it was fair game.

"5"

"Bolts ready" Tomo reported, indicating the eplosive bolts that would throw off the canopy.

"4"

"No change in target rotation" Ranma replied. Their biggest threat had always been that the enemy vessel would turn, presenting one of its sharp instrument arrays instead of the clean area that they were in fact aimed at.

"3"

"Incoming" Ranma reported as the base opened up with some of its cannon. The Pacer's overloading shields began to flare constantly.

"2"

"Shield strength dropping way to fast" Tomo reported.

"1"

"Screw it! Blow them now or we fry!" Ranma ordered, slamming his hand over hers and onto the firing mechanism.

They were instantly blown clear of the Pacer, bright blossom of fire erupting behind them as the cockpit's escaping air burnt off.

The sudden acceleration and extreme disorientation robbed both of them of all conscious thought for a few precious seconds. By the time they came to the protective screen offered by the bulk of their shuttle was gone and they found themselves hemmed in by plasma blasts and tumbling far too quickly towards the surface of the base.

"oops" said Ranma, in what was one of the understatements of the year.

"What's up" asked Tomo, having a much less advanced readout on her suit.

"We are coming in a little fast" Ranma replied. "Its gonna be rough?"

"How rough?" asked Tomo with trepidation.

"Not quite pancake" Ranma replied, puling her in close and beginning to angle their bodies for impact.

"How not quite-" began Tomo only to be interrupted by the sudden jarring of their landing. Ranma had anged them to let him come in first, absorb as much of the impact as he could and then be bounced off to counter some of her momentum. Naturally it worked. Unfortunately it not only hurt like hell but also threw them back just enough to lose contact with the vessel. They were bouncing back out into space.

"Oh crap" Tomo swore when she became aware of their predicament. Ranma nodded his agreement through the haze of pain.

Once again their luck came into play, the Alien base finally did its adjustments. What had been their biggest fear over their approach suddenly became their lifeine.


	12. Storm Cell iii

**Storm Cell iii**

Deep within the metallic grey bowels of the Alien base a certain Sergeant Major was once again cursing up a storm. Her rapidly formed Commando had managed to break out of the confining circle of sectoids but were now involved in a running battle that seemed to be going nowhere fast. Each corner they came to seemed to have a trio of alien soldiers waiting at it, all of whom had to be killed before the team could move on. The firefights gave other aliens the chance to catch up and so the whole cycle kept repeating. Despite the fact that the Earth force outclassed their opponents by leagues the constant pressure was starting to show and losses were starting to accumulate. Already a third of the team were lying dead along their path, weapons set to overload to preserve the technology.

Beside Laura another member of her team went down. He didn't even have time to scream before his head dissolved into superheated bubbling mush. Whatever these latest wave of guards were using it seemed to be cutting through even the latest Earth force armour with disturbing regularity. The aliens' accuracy however remained limited and the rest of the burst splashed harmlessly through the walls.

Laura peeled left, diving into cover and rolling to draw a bead on the latest assailant. Other than his distinctive purple and crystal weapon their seemed little out of place. He was the same midget grey git that X-Com had been killing for years, all head and no trousers. Laura lined up and gently squeezed off a return blast that tore a neat hole through the front of the alien's oversize cranium, and fractions of a second later blew its brains out the back in a pink and green spray. Much like the commando before it the sectiod folded at the knees and crumpled with barely a sound. Unfortunately unlike the Earth soldier, when he fell there were plenty more to replace him. Even as the viscous fluid stopped pumping from the ruins of its head two more drone soldiers arrived to take up the fight.

"Filthy Scunners!" she swore, firing off another stream of deadly missiles. Even before it happened she expected the empty chime to sound. Her third clip and with precious little progress towards the objective to show for it. Somewhere out there was the command bay and the alien brain, but wherever it was her commando didn't seem to be getting any closer.

"Ammo check" she called in the momentary lull. The answers were not good. The time was rapidly approaching when they would be forced to swap their Hybrid weapons for whatever they could get to work off of the bugs.

Her concerns were once more swept away, the aliens were once again rushing their positions, using their drones to soak up the commando's ammunition. Laura had already spotted the pattern and had enough respect for the bug-brain running the show to know that things were going to get a whole lot hotter when it ran out of cannon fodder. Somewhere out there the brain was holding back its best troops, just waiting for her team to flag. The moment the commando lost its momentum, lost its cohesion, or just lost its way then the brain would send in the heavy hitters.

Her display flashed again and they were once more on the move, forging down the featureless grey corridors, desperately searching for the way off the level, forcing their way through the alien defensive lines by sheer force of will and heavy ordinance.

O

O

O

"Hot Damn!" Tomo swore. Her and Ranma had just met their first opposition. It had all come as a massive surprise to her, and even now she wasn't sure of all the details.

After Ranma used a utility line to haul their floating asses back onto the ship he had systematically beaten his way into the vessel through its own hull. That had dropped the into a depressurised spacer section where the outer skin was separated from the inner in a series of narrow strips all the way around the base.

From there the two of them had once again resorted to brute force and Ranma had turned his impressive sidearm into a door key. He had blown the plating to hell and she had patched the controls up enough to cycle the tiny airlock.

She had expected a phalanx of grinning aliens waiting for them the other side, and was more than a little relieved when they had found nothing but empty quiet corridors. The relief was not to last, instead the emptiness soon combined with Ranma's driven silence to unnerve her.

He had gone silent from the moment he had started hammering on the outer hull, and she had felt forced to follow suit. Even the crippling pain of the injuries he was carrying did not seem to be cause for noise as the veteran led the way with silent determination.

They had just come to yet another featureless corner when things changed. Seemingly out of nowhere a four bug patrol of aliens had appeared. They were Mutons, heavily armed elite soldiers of the alien empire, built like Ferro-Crete outhouses and sporting temperaments that would put hardened Neo-Nazi killers to shame.

Tomo had tried to raised her own weapon but by the time she had there was nobody to shoot at. Ranma had literally exploded from his careful gait and hurled himself bodily at the patrol. A rapid elbow to the chin drove one clear off his feet and into his comrades behind. A palm strike to the guts of another had driven him into a wall so hard that it never even felt its guts rupture. The final two were dispatched with vicious stamp-kicks, crushing their faces into their skulls.

It was a level of precise violence that Tomo would never have believed possible, let alone expected to see from a man sporting serious injuries.

"Ow!" was Ranma's only comment, before he fell into a loping run, weapon shouldered as he lead the way.

"Shit" Tomo swore and took after him at what to her was little less than a sprint.

Two minutes and three Mutons later they arrived at yet another featureless door, much like all the others that Ranma had ignored. Yet at this one he signalled a stop. He pointed two fingers at his faceplate and then gestured around the area. Tomo replied with a blank look.

"Stay. Watch. Shoot only at confirmed targets!" he ordered, then waited for her nod before disappearing through the door. The moment he was out of sight Tomo's brain seemed to fly into overdrive. Scared simply was not a strong enough word.

O

O

He hated leaving Tomo outside but knew that this local command would get nasty and also that she wasn't reacting fast enough to stay alive let alone be of any real assistance. But he needed a break and this as the place to get it.

Ranma pelted through the door rifle leading. The room was just as he had expected, laid out just like every other small command centre he had ever seen. If the bugs weren't so damn predictable in their architecture things would have been a whole lot worse. A pir of large hexagonal consoles dominated the room, surrounded by four chairs and an array of screens. Six Muton command staff were variously arrayed around the room, now turning to face the sudden intrusion.

Ranma snapped off a quick spray into the nearest pair, high velocity eplosive bullets tearing through super hard skin like it was jelly. When the rounds detonated they tore flesh, tissue and bone into bloody gobbets and flung them across the room. However even as he bounded for cover across the room the others were raising weapons. Purple blasts of laser driven plasma replied to his assault, destroying screen, seat and wall with equal abandon.

Ranma popped up from behind a console, finger already squeezing the trigger. Two more Mutons went down, thrown from their feet, trailing pinkish mist as they bounced into the walls.

For once he wasn't fast enough, the Muton leader had been biding his time. Ranma's shoulder suddenly exploded into pain as a bright flare of purple energy blossomed across the plate and cooked the contents.

Deep within Zen-shin Ranma's warrior mind noted the latest disability and compensated. He flicked out a piece of shrapnel lying on the floor, using it to buy the time he needed to realign his sights. But the Muton was not as distracted as Ranma hoped and a second round hit the commando square in the chest. This time there was no pain, the suit stopped the shot dead, saving the commando's life. There was no third round as Ranma's answering burst destroyed the alien leader's head and weapon arm.

The final muton was an engineer, it too had been biding its time, but not for the same reasons as the leader. Instead the sole survivor was now already halfway out of the door, running as fast as its yellow legs could carry it. Unfortunately for it Tomo's fear had made her more than a little trigger-happy. No sooner had the door cycled than she was pointing her weapon at the opening way. Seeing a figure that wasn't Ranma's suit she squeezed the trigger and blew it straight to hell in a burst of fire that went right past overkill and into gratuitous waste of ammo.

When Tomo finally got up the courage to enter the now silent room she was greeted by the curious sight of Ranma once more stripping down out of his battle suit.

"Er Ranma?" she asked.

"Suit's U.S." he explained using the shortened version of unserviceable. "Purple guns have strong anti circuit effect." Tomo recoiled a little, digesting the new information. As Ranma moved over to one of the working consoles she went over and searched for one of these new guns.

She found one lying amongst the gore that had been a muton Technician. More disturbing than the pink fluids that the creature used in lieu of blood was he fact that even without the contents of its ruined skull the body still seemed to be trying to move and breathe, albeit through the sucking chest wound that was all that remained of its torso.

"Yuk!" she swore, gritting her teeth and recovering the weapon. A quick wipe later and she finally got to inspect the latest threat to Mankind. It had the familiar alien bulbous shapes but was otherwise very different indeed. Dual barrels and crystalline sights gave the entire weapon the look of something almost artistic. The fact that it was also completely lacking a trigger just served to make it look even more otherworldly.

"Moving!" Ranma ordered, leading the way once again but this time with still more purpose. The fact that his only protection now consisted of a somewhat damaged plugsuit seemed to have entirely slipped his mind. Tomo swore again and followed as fast as she could.

O

O

O

"Fuck this!" Laura swore as her team was once more held up by yet another suicide sectiod team. "I am well and truly tired of this shit. All guns listen in!" she ordered, "we are changing the rules. I want an extended perimeter on me right now! Tyrone bring me the big buster!" Her orders caused more than a few raised eyebrows but the commando was too well trained to argue, and had too much respect for her not to trust whatever new plan she was hatching.

As the rest of the commando formed the defensive perimeter, taking up overwatch positions on all approaches Laura briefed Tyrone and her number two on the new plan. The trio were scorched and splattered with unidentifiable gore, tired but unbowed. Laura and Greg's weapons were giving off a heat haze from their barrels and Tyrone's looked like he had used it to batter a whole squad of sectiods into mulch, an observation that wasn't far from the truth.

"Every time we use their lifts some bastard is waiting for us the other end, so from now on we do it the old way. Big T I want you to blow us a hole through every ceiling between us and the command deck. Greg I want breaching teams ready to fly through those holes as fast as we can make them. If the aliens want us then they are going to have to play our game!"

As the other two moved off to start the new tactic something in Laura finally relaxed. This was the sort of thing she was good at, taking the fight to the enemy and forcing them to dance to an earthman's tune. She could already envisage the scene in the brain room as her team suddenly dropped off the scopes. The idea was more than a little comforting.

A little less than six feet away Private Patrick Star saw the smile and he too finally relaxed. This mission had been a nightmare for the young man from the moment they got into that coffin that they called an assault shuttle. As the team had forged its way through the corridors he had been expecting the shot with his name on it to arrive almost constantly. His leader's sudden change of tactics had almost caused him to lose bowel control, fearing that they were setting up for a last stand. Instead the boss lady was smiling and looking like the world suddenly made sense. He didn't need to know what the plan was, he didn't even need to know what the joke was, just the sight of that smile drove away the fear and at that moment he would have stormed the very gates of hell and still expected to walk out the other side.

Off to one side the massive detonation of the latest brand of fusion missile could be heard and once again the commando were moving. This time however the aliens would be the ones playing catchup.

O

O

O

Outside the base things were not going well. Over half the interceptors launched from Nemesis were now either scrap or spiralling shrapnel. Every bay aboard the ship was crammed with damaged vessels being frantically jury-rigged to get them back into the battle. Worst of all the sickbay emergency room was overflowing into the corridors. Maimed and injured lay on anything that could be found moaning and groaning as they waited for medical help. Among the injured moved the doctors, nurses and orderlies, blood splattered wraiths dispensing quick fixes and painkillers, unable to keep up with the flow of human misery.

Misato pulled herself up from the cot that she lay in, clutching at her wounded head and side. With her unbandaged eye she quickly scanned the state of the med-deck and came to an instant decision.

"Doc" she called, dragging over an orderly busy dispensing painkillers, "give me a handful of those blue bastards."

"Ma'am?" he asked, unsure as to what exactly was going on.

"Looks like we can use all the help we can get, and I sure as hell ain't being much use here." Misato replied, lowering her feet to the floor. "Shit!" she swore as she stood.

"What is it?" the orderly asked.

"This damn floor s freezing!" she exclaimed, taking the pills in her good hand. "Now show me the way to the walking wounded!" she ordered.

On the Bridge Nabiki was still very much in control. To the other bridge crew, only trained in their current roles as backups for the real battle bridge, the captain seemed a fountain of calm and orderliness in a universe gone to pot. Whenever any of them started to get swamped by the information they were processing there Nabiki was, with a helping hand or an assistant to relieve the workload. Whenever any of the girls started to become despondent there was Nabiki with a timely word, or just a comforting grip on their shoulder.

The result was that even though the staff were operating in roles that they had never really been expected to fill they were operating like hardened veterans who had been running fleet actions all their lives. The biggest sign of this was the almost churchlike hush that had descended on the bridge. No unnecessary talk, each communication was short and to the point, going only to those that needed to know. Most of all there was no sign of panic and each station was operating with a professionalism that belied their backup status.

The truth was Nabiki was as close to her own version of Ranma's warrior's mind as she had ever been. All conscious thought had been submerged in favour of complete focus on the tasks that needed to be done. Those people that had seen her as the Ice Queen of Furinikan would have fled in terror of this latest manifestation.

Somewhere in her mind she registered that the casualty figures were more than losses to fighting efficiency, that the growing toll of pilots lost meant more than less interceptors to take the fight to the enemy, but out of sheer necessity that part of her mind had been bundled into a corner and gagged. Even the bright explosion of the Pacer carrying her husband had been filed away, partitioned off to be dealt with later when so many souls weren't counting on her.

"Tell engineering that I need those lateral shields up right now!" Nabiki ordered, knowing that soon they would have to turn to present a new aspect to the enemy if only so that they could give the turrets on that side time to cool. "And get me a sit rep from the marines!"

"Aye aye ma'am" came the reply and Nabiki moved on to a new problem.

o

o

o

"Where are we now?" Tmo asked breathlessly. Keeping up with Ranma had become harder and harder. They had stopped for less than a minute when she had pointed out the growing stain on his leg where a random splinter of metal had caught him in a brief fight. He had merely taken the dermal stapler and driven six of the alloyed pins into the leg to seal the hole then started jogging again.

"Secondary power systems" Ranma reported, waiting for her to catch up.

"Ranma" Tomo started breathlessly "We can't... I can't... go on like this."

"Agreed! He replied, "Do what you can here" he said, handing her a couple of grenades he had lifted from the last patrol. As he jogged off he never looked back, but she had caught the understanding in that last look. Alone she was toast, and both of them knew it.

"Damn it all" she said, sucking in a ragged breath, "I'm a bloody engineer not some psycho commando who 'feels no pain'" she said, the last few words in a mocking macho voice. "What the hell am I going to do now?"

"Other than stop talking to myself, obviously" she joked, turning to the nearest door. It opened into a smallish room containing a few mutons and what looked suspiciously like a machine shop.

Tomo reacted on instinct. She flipped both the charges on the grenades, dropped them and stepped back to the side of the door. A desultory scattering of fire followed her, only to be suddenly cut off by a twin explosion. A twin explosion that as well as killing its occupants tore the walls off of the room and threw the engineer flat.

"Oops" she echoed, looking at the destruction about her.

The second door proved to be less dangerous but just as much use, a small cubby bare except for what passed for alien janitorial supplies. A brief thought crossed her mind that she had yet to see anything that passed for a toilet aboard the station. Her arrival at the third of the doors interrupted her musings. Readying her rifle she stepped into the detector's range and crouched ready for a firefight.

The door opened to a long chamber, dominated by the pulsating orange glow of the elerium reactors that lined the walls. Now here was something she could understand, engines!

A careful swipe with her utility torch and the door was locked behind her. As she turned to the reactors her face was fixed with a new determination.

O

o

o

Deep within his Zen state Ranma moved onwards, moving from cover to cover down the empty corridors. He was well aware that time would be running out for the Human mothership and equally aware that given enough time the aliens could flood these corridors with enough troops to stop even a full X-Com commando, let alone one injured stray.

Academically he was also aware that leaving Tomo behind amounted to all but a death sentence for the engineer but it was hardly the first time he had been forced to make harsh decisions of that type. Either he succeeded and she stayed alive long enough to be rescued, or one of them failed in which case they would be dead and beyond caring.

Two suited mutons appeared in the corridor ahead, escorting a robed master alien. Like the others he had met in the corridors they were strangely slow to react. A fact that he exploited with two rapid bursts of automatic fire. The trio were thrown to the ground and splattered over the featureless walls before they even had a chance to raise their guard. However Ranma was well aware that the noise of even that short exchange would carry a long way down these corridors and it was only a matter of time before the alarm was raised properly. Then there would be no sleepy wanderers, instead he would be facing alien elites.

As he reached the penultimate door on his venture he paused. From the schematics he had checked in the last command centre what lay beyond was the beating heart of the facility. A star shaped set of galleries lined with the birthing pods of the next generation of alien invaders. At its centre would be the dome of the mother brain, accessible only from below and even then only through a well guarded liftroom.

He checked his ammo, and changed magazine anyway, there would probably be little chance to reload in the coming minutes and an empty rifle was a glorified club. He quickly dumped all his spare kit, anything that slowed him down now was a possible death sentence. All that remained on his rig was one spare clip and his stripped down medkit, even the knife was a luxury.

The plugsuit stayed, as did the salvaged helm from his suit. Neither would provide much protection in their damaged states but each was necessary in its own way. The thermal insulation of the suit would provide a few seconds of camouflage from the average robot. The Aegis helm from his suit was nearing critical battery level, but to leave it would be like sending up a flare in the middle of a disco. Even with the masking hood Ranma knew that only the efforts of Gos's team were keeping him protected, if only by providing a bigger target for the top psykers.

Ranma quickly fired up a final dose o stims from the kit, blanking out the pain and tiredness at the cost of exasperating his already damaged condition, and barrelled through the door.

To find nobody. Sure the walls contained rank after rank of sleeping, growing aliens, completely circling the walkways that led to the room below the glowing dome suspended in the structure's centre, but there was no sign of enemy presence. To say that he expected different would have been a massive understatement. Nevertheless he had little choice but to forge onwards, crossing onto the dangerously open walkway, rifle leading.

O

O

O

Elsewhere the reason for Ranma's luck was paying the price of his easy approach. Laura's commando had reached the command deck by way of several busted floor-ceilings but the brain had anticipated the group's target. No sooner had her team begun moving through the support corridors than they had met the stiffest resistance yet. Everything from drones to armoured Muton elites were assaulting their positions, trading dozens of lives for the time it would take to rush the main response force up from the lower decks by the elevators.

To the tired soldiers of Laura's commando it felt like they had emerged into a horror film. Wave after wave of enemy charged their positions, often armed only with bunt objects, all attempting to get close enough to take down just one of their number. The tactics were worse than crude but terrifyingly effective. Laura's group, already whittled down by their torturous trek to the level were now losing soldiers with terrifying regularity.

"Three grey six" called one soldier over the coms, reporting the start of yet another wave.

"Dozen at two" called another commando from a nearly opposite position.

"Reapers at nine" called another and Laura ran to his assistance. The huge bipedal lizard-like aliens had prove remarkably durable, even with massive chunks missing out of their forms.

"Alpha nine running dry!" called yet another survivor.

"Alpha Ten assisting!" called his 'buddy,' as he tossed a half-empty reclaimed magazine that Alpha eleven would never need.

Laura knew things were desperate, but had just plain run out of options. It was stand, fight and die or run away and get hunted down. Faced with choices like that there was no choice, they would sell their lives as dearly as they could.

"And we were so damn close!" she griped, "Bloody bugs!"

o

o

o

"I don't give a damn colonel!" Nabiki shouted down the coms, "You will get your men moving right now. I don't care if it isn't proper procedure! My husband and I spent a great deal of time working on the selection procedure and there is not one of them that isn't capable of initiative. Set them loose and do it now, or so help me I Will Tear You A New One! Kapish?"

"It is my considered opinion that in abandoning tried and tested procedure in a-"

"Zip IT! Follow orders or…." Nabiki slammed the close button, leaving the threat hanging. "Damn that Fuckwit!" she swore, cool having been finally shattered by the sheer idiocy of a man she should have been able to count on.

"Get me Medbay now!" Nabiki had heard the reports of her second in command's hobbling heroes and was pulling out her hole card. The simple fact was she had little choice. The last few minutes were proving to be the darkest ones of the mission to date. Roy's Flyboys and girls had succeeded admirably in crippling the assembled fleet, but had been rendered all but useless in the process. The Nemesis itself had taken such a pasting that even life support was being rerouted to shields. And now the aliens had boarded her.

Two minutes ago two alien ships had rammed into the side of the Earth ship and disgorged squad after squad of trained invaders. The chrysalid shock troops had quickly set about swelling their forces with new copies of themselves, gestated in the bodies of captured human sailors.

The worst part of the situation was that the Marine colonel seemed unwilling to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Nabiki was doing everything she could to slow the invaders down, from venting engine chambers into the corridors, to explosively decompressing whole sections of the ship. The Marine colonel on the other hand had insisted that he needed to retool his men for anti-incursion actions. Instead of the instant response she had every right to expect the damn man was insisting that he needed at least ten minutes to change armaments.

Right now Nabiki would have quite happily murdered him with her bare hands.

O

O

O


	13. Storm Cell iv

**Storm Cell iv**

"Are you sure about this?" Dr. Elisabeth Weir asked her lover.

"We both know that the girl has no business leading this mission." Everett replied, "If she is not removed then the whole galaxy will suffer" he continued, a sanctimonious air in his voice. Puffing out his chest and squaring his shoulders the colonel continued, "if the only way to do that is to let her make her mistakes then so be it."  
"But what about the …" she argued. The two of them were in the colonel's hardened office. Weir was looking distinctly worried but the colonel was a picture of calm. This despite the repeated calls for assistance that were echoing over the com on his desk.

"People who trust her?" Everett supplied, "I just wish there was more I could do" he continued with false sincerity, crocodile tears shining in his eyes.

Everett had always been ambitious. It had taken him very little time indeed to work out that politics was as much part of a modern soldier's role as fighting and quickly decided on the path of least resistance. In Weir he had found an ally, the woman was strong, capable and principled, on first glance of little use to his ambitions. However one night he had found her alone on the observation deck, alone and vulnerable following an argument with one of her friends. He had tried his hole card and the frankly quite beautiful woman, had been a surprisingly easy conquest. Since that time his quiet campaign had undercut the formidable woman's confidence so badly that she even accepted these barefaced lies as fact, purely because they came from his mouth.

Colonel Everett allowed himself a self-congratulatory smile, before leaning down and re-reading the UN regulations in front of him.

O

O

Not a hundred yards away Kaji was fighting for his life. An Alien raider team was working its way towards the Marine command centre, killing everyone that they could find along the way. Kaji and his small security team were doing all they could to stop the invaders but the aliens were still winning ground.

To the security chief's left another one of his team paid the final price. A shot tore through the thin wall he was hiding behind and punched a fist sized hole in the unfortunate man's chest. Shutting the sight from his mind Kaji wound up his last grenade and whispered a last prayer.

"Nabiki if you've got an ace up your sleeve now would really be a good time," he whispered, turning the corner, handgun blazing.

Through sheer luck rather than any skill on his part the alien invaders managed to miss him just long enough for him to throw his deadly projectile. Unfortunately for him an alien managed to deflect the bomb from its true target.

Pure white light blossomed, far to close for anyone's comfort. In that moment Kaji saw the blast wave tear two aliens into pieces, destroying armour and flesh with equal disregard. Then the wave bounced and Kaji had a perfect view of the blastfront heading his way. Somehow it seemed to change from a blooming flower into a grinning skull.

"Shit. I'm dead" he thought, throwing himself to the floor.

Only he wasn't, a blast door slammed shut with all the finality of a coffin lid, and instead of fiery death Kaji found himself in sudden silence. From one side a foot suddenly appeared, his eyes followed it up, along some very shapely legs, and over a very fit body, to the bandaged face of the ship's first officer.

"When you're quite finished checking me out Captain" she said with humour in her eyes, "We have something we need to do," and with that she turned around and left.

"Bloody women" he groused, hauling his battered form off the floor and following the swaying rear of his boss.

O

o

The hundred and fifty meters between the door that Ranma came in through and the base structure to the glowing dome seemed like the longest Ranma had ever known since his wedding aisle. He could feel the thousands of eyes looking out at him from tanks lining the wall. Even through his aegis hood he could feel the oppression of the hundreds of minds reaching out to probe his, dreamers trying to make sense of the intruder into this inner sanctum.

With the awareness of their minds came the realisation that his Zen-shin was slipping. The pain and strategic decisions had slowly broken down the neat walls of his emptiness. Without the careful control over his mind and body his injuries would soon drag him down, he would slow and this was no time for slow.

As his back hit the wall next to the door a sinking feeling hit him in the gut. The simple truth was that in the state he was in only the stims he was taking were keeping him upright. They came at a hideous cost to his ability to focus. Without focus the aliens would have a huge advantage, simply put they would win, it would only be a matter of time. Ranma also had to face the very real possibility of being taken alive. The truth was that, despite his best efforts, he simply knew too much, too many details of too many of Earth's anti-alien defences. If Ranma went in that door, and the aliens took him he would be betraying information directly to the enemy who could most use it. It could be the difference between….

"Shit!" Ranma swore, finally recognising the fingerprints of mental manipulation. Somehow one of the bugs had got in through all the defences, an that meant that…

The door burst open, two massive aliens rushed from its gaping maw. The were a deep green colour, so dark it was almost black. Their chitinous hides were covered in hard plates and spines, their six arms finished with cruel claws that crossed talons with pincers. Their faces were dominated by hundreds of red eyes and a massive maw that opened vertically as well as horizontally.

"Ugly bastards" Ranma muttered, pulling himself into a stance and clearing his mind. Even as the lead monster threw out its grasping arms Ranma was ducking low, bending practically at the ankle and moving for a devastating strike to the fork of the creature's lower legs.

Ranma's knife edge strike was driven by most of the muscles in his body. It cleaved through the steel strong hide between the creatures leg and groin plates like so much soggy paper. Hot ooze exploded from the alien's circulatory system, burning Ranma's skin and splattering across the walkway.

Ranma pivoted his body on his other hand and swept out a double kick to the oncoming second beast. It parried and for a long second the two of them traded lighting fast blows, Ranma's super fast kicks seeking to find a way through the marauder's furious assault. Suddenly a claw shattered and the beast's attack was holed. Ranma pushed off with his hand and looped right into the reach of the creature's arms, too close for it to fight effectively. Ranma of course had no such problems. Even as the beast craned its neck to swallow Ranma's head the warrior was reaching in for the throw.

For the sentinel this was all a new experience. Only once in its existence had it even seen one of its brethren so much as hurt yet somehow this soft bag of water had thrown off the mental commands of a master and crippled two of the most physical beasts ever to serve the alien minds. As it abandoned finesse and reverted to type it got another shock. The soft-skin dodged into its own tight zone, and instinct took over. It tried to bite the soft-skin, chew its puny little body into gobbets.

Instead the creature found itself falling, rotating over its own neck, and slamming down into the decking with the force of a freight train. As the light faded from its eyes it was still wondering "How?"

The other sentinel tried to stand, confused by its sudden inability to do so. From the corner of its vision suddenly appeared the severed fist of its brood-mate. The claw plunged, barely even slowed as it forced its way past its mandibles and in through the beast's upper palette. All became dark.

Ranma took a long breath, casting out his senses for an sign of a follow up. There was nothing nearby but from the other ends of the walkways came the distant sound of running feet, time was most definitely against him. Slowly he straightened and moved to the door, twisting his neck to crack the vertebrae back into line.

O

O

"Er what the hell just happened?" Joe asked the sergeant-major. All of a sudden the pressure had stopped. As the last few barricades were being broken down, the last defences bent to their breaking point suddenly there was silence.

"How the hell should I know marine!" Laura barked, "but I do know that we're gonna damn well use the time." Even as she barked orders to pull back the injured and strip ammo from the dead she was binding her own left arm across her chest, using a strip of uniform clenched between her teeth. The arm was little use now anyway, bloody gore had replaced the fingers and a large chunk was seared from the forearm, all courtesy of an attempt to break the circle of entrapment.

The defensive formation that had been all but smashed reformed again, smaller but better armed.

"Bout time some of Ranma's luck rubbed off" she said to herself.

O

O

O

"Damn" Ranma swore, his luck had just run out. As he had suspected the base structure of the dome was a liftroom. Unfortunately it was a shielded liftroom. Completely encircling the lift was a shimmering wall of force. A quick experiment with the severed limb from the sentinel beast revealed the explosive consequences of touching the field. Clearly visible the other side of the field were the lift controls, and an extra panel presumably for the shield.

Ranma tried shooting the field. Then grenading it. No effect.

From outside the sound of approaching forces was growing louder by the second. At any moment he would be fighting for his life with little or no hope of survival.

"Damn!" he repeated.

O

O

"Just a little longer you bastards" Tomo muttered, still fiddling with the wiring behind a panel. Behind her the door continued to dent. For the past few minutes the aliens the other side had been trying to batter their way in. The noise had been becoming more and more frantic as at Tomo had been doing became more obvious. Already she had locked out most of the vessel's targeting systems, had cut the central control over the shields and moved on to other systems. Bit by bit she was sabotaging the alien's ability to run their ship. They had quickly worked out the source of the problem and shortly after that they had turned up to stop her. Hence the force trying to barge down the door.

Seconds ago Tomo had suddenly come across a hardened circuit unlike any of the others. A vast amount of power was flowing through it and the system here was being used to regulate the spikes. Whatever the circuit was someone had gone to a great deal of trouble to make it stable and secure.

To Tomo the power was a resource and an opportunity. With an evil smile she crossed that circuit with the master control grid.

Even as the strike force broke in the door all over the base controls went crazy, lights exploded and shields collapsed.

O

O

Just as Ranma made the decision to rush the strike force everything changed. A series of explosions spread out, seemingly from everywhere at once and the world went silent and dark.

A few spilt-seconds before the aliens outside gathered enough of themselves to rush in Ranma had already turned and jumped. All they saw were his disappearing heels.

The chamber of the Mother brain no longer glowed brightly. Instead it was lit only by the eerie light of its monitors and the arcing sparks of blown lights. Revealed by the flickering luminescence were a good dozen of the sentinels, surrounding the mother brain.

Ranma dropped to one knee and levelled his rifle, training it on the rushing horde.

'Crack-crack' Two rounds passed cleanly through the skull of the lead monster.

'crack' Straight through the mouth.

'crack' Centremass.

"crack' Eye

"crack" Eye

the litany went on, each round of his rifle pronouncing well aimed death for one of the rushing creatures. One by one they collapsed and folded in upon themselves. Ranma's barrel glowed red and still they came.

Finally there was only one left, a giant among its kin, and it was already reaching for the intruder into this most private shrine.

Without hesitation Ranma whipped up the but of his rifle. It caught the brood-head first across the inside uf its highest elbow and then crushed the right side of its face into a goo-ey mess.

Ranma ditched the melting weapon, drawing his beltknife.

The mother turned its massive eye to regard him and for the very first time in its life it truly knew fear. In the eyes of this lesser species was none of the subservience, the terror or the pliability of every other creature it had met. Instead the intruder's eyes were pools of icy indifference. Even as Ranma hefted his knife to throw the mother searched for some sign of weakness, some chink in the armour to exploit that might possibly save its life.

**"PLEASE!" **it said, a futile gesture to puntuate a pointless end.

The knife flew and the mother finally accepted the truth, this creature would never be dissuaded, would never stop until all of her species were dead. It wept for the end of an empire that spanned the stars themselves.

Ranma spat and turned to leave. He didn't get the chance, with the mother's death it released a psychic shockwave that burst out, stripping all unshielded minds of anything approaching conscious thought. Those close to the brain suffered almost simultaneous mental meltdowns.

O

O

Aboard the Nemesis Gos's coterie were the first to spot the change, unfortunately for more than one of them this would be the last thing they ever spotted, the backlash causing haemorrhaging on a massive scale. Gos himself had felt similar before, the difference was that this time he had been fighting for much longer, and was a whole lot more sensitive. From the moment the scream touched his consciousness he knew there was little he could do, he could either close off his mind and retreat into his body or try to help the others; in the end there was no choice at all. With a mental flick Gos dumped all his reserves into the matrix, cannibalising his own body to feed the shield he built for his comrades.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed, the last words that would ever leave his mouth.

o

o

"What the hell?" Nabiki offered. All of a sudden the entire alien fleet had gone haywire. First the alien base had seemed to lose all control over its functions and leave itself open, and now everybody else was following suit.

Just as she was about to give the order to keep firing the psychic shockwave hit. For a long moment all she could feel was pain then it was gone.

"Ranma" she muttered, somehow knowing.


	14. When the dust settles

** When the Dust Settles**

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:  
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.  
At the going down of the sun and in the morning  
We will remember them. They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;  
They sit no more, nor walk, nor plod;  
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;  
They sleep beyond the grace of God. 

But where our desires are and our hopes profound  
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,  
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known  
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,  
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;  
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,  
To the end, to the end they remain. 

(apologies to Laurence Binyon)

o

o

In years to come the battle would become known as one of mankind's finest hours. When the scores were counted the tiny force of men had destroyed nearly a hundred aliens for every human. For every fighter they lost ten enemy ships had been put out of commission. All this against an enemy far better equipped and far more capable than Earth had ever expected. On the face of it no greater victory could have been asked for.

On the bridge of the crippled Nemesis the Captain didn't quite see it that way. To her and her crew the losses were more than figures to be tallied against kills, they were the lives of friends, family, shipmates and even lovers.

People like Flight engineer Tomo, killed even as she lowered the shield that allowed Ranma to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

People like Faye Valentine and her crew, killed trying to save pilots from the long dark.

People like Lisa Hayes, killed at her station trying to keep it open for just a few seconds longer, and so not leave the interceptors unsupported.

People like Flight Lieutenant Rogers, killed trying to defend the ship, his body never to be found.

People like Teaching Specialist Ruby Devine, killed defending the crèche and its precious cargo, unwilling to stand aside even though she had never fired a shot in anger, her duty to the kids coming before her own life.

Perhaps worse still were some of the injured, people like bridge officer Pervis, whose mind had been invaded by an alien presence at just the wrong time. Now he lay, strapped to his bunk, dribbling and drooling, his mind shattered like a pane of glass.

Unfortunately sickbay was full of them, the injured and the maimed, it just wasn't possible to treat them all. Everyone with the smallest amount of medical experience was down there, trying there best just to keep their fellows alive long enough to be treated. Nabiki had even ordered the 'med-bay' aboard several of the disabled Harvesters used, unfortunately this meant that in far too many cases patients were being treated by glorified orderlies and under only the sketchiest of anaesthetic.

That she herself had been one of those treated was little comfort. At the height of the fighting the alien invaders had made it onto the bridge. They had been repulsed but only after doing more than enough damage. Too many of those present at the time would never grace another bridge, and the lives of others still hung in the balance.

Richard had his own tank, right next to Yuri Valentine. Both had literally used their bodies to shield hers. It was very humbling indeed.

The other side of the coin was the miracles. The remnants of Laura's team found bloodied but alive on the de-powered station. Roy Fokker found clinging to the ship's hull, having survived his ship exploding by being blown clear of his cockpit just beforehand. Gosunki, his body dead but his mind somehow transferred to the matrix and preserved.

And of course Ranma, found more dead than alive, face down, bare feet from the Alien Mother Brain. He had enough wounds on him to stop a whole herd of elephants, and his aegis hood was literally fused onto the back of his head. Yet somehow he had still managed to ask "What took you so long?" That he had passed out soon afterwards and was yet to wake up was cause for concern but Nabiki knew her man well enough to know that he wouldn't let a little thing like being technically dead slow him for long.

Unlike far too many others. The days since the battle seemed to have been one long procession of sorrow, as one by one those missing were confirmed dead, as those whose hold on life was too tenuous slipped into the last journey. On the machine deck one workshop did nothing but build coffins. For the majority of the pilots there would be no need, the void had claimed them for its own.

Right now Nabiki was doing the part of the battle she hated most of all. Not the body count, that was bad enough, but the 'personnel defaulters.' Those members of the team that had buckled under the pressure, had by action or lack of it let their comrades down. The sad thing was that for most of them it wasn't their fault, they had been asked to do the impossible and turned out to be merely human. Unfortunately that wasn't good enough, everyone of them had effectively forced another member of the Nemesis crew to do their jobs, had at best failed, at worst actively hindered.

In the past there would have only been one punishment for such betrayal, and thousands of men and women through history had paid that ultimate price. But the new modern world required a gentler hand. So despite the fact that part of her wanted everyone of the names in front of her shot Nabiki was going through the reports and trying to filter out the innocent from the traitorous, every case sticking like bile in her throat.

Finally she came to one she had been dreading, a young marine who had fled his position under fire. His comrades had been left exposed and slaughtered. Nabiki had met the man, the boy, and his face had said it all. Whatever she did to him would never match the pain he felt. No punishment would ever assuage the guilt, nor bring back his friends. The boy was on suicide watch twenty four hours a day and Nabiki had honestly considered cancelling the order. She couldn't imagine what it must feel like but she had seen the pain and wouldn't of wished that on her worst enemy.

How much of a contrast then between the boy and his Commanding officer. Everett, even under the barrels of Kaji and Misato, had maintained his arrogance. The men and women who now lay boxed below because of his intransigence seemed not to affect him in the slightest. Even now he was composing a letter of protest to high command. A letter that placed the blame firmly at her door.

Which was the problem: if his target had been anyone else then she could have dismissed it as irrelevant posturing from an insubordinate pig, but she couldn't in good conscience make that decision about herself.

"What the hell am I going to do with you?" she asked herself, "and Weir for that matter." Weir had actively resisted arrest, going so far as to try to wrest Kaji's weapon from him. That she had obviously been put up to it was little help. It had been an act of mutiny and for that there remained only one sentence. By law Weir must die.

"Why couldn't you have tried something too bastard" Nabiki swore, knowing full well that Everett was far too shrewd an operator to e caught like that. She also suspected that he had known exactly what he was doing when he had forced Nabiki's hand with Weir. It was hardly going to harm Everett's case when HQ heard their special representative had been sentenced to death.

"Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!" Nabiki swore again.

"Mommy?" interrupted little Kimiko, suddenly standing in her mother's makeshift office's doorway. The little girl had thankfully come through completely unscathed. Indeed the crèche had been one of the few places least affected by the dying scream. Nabiki had her suspicions why, but wasn't about to confirm them for fear of what exactly that would mean for her baby girl.

"I thought you were sleeping Kimi-chan" Nabiki replied, pulling the nightdress-clad child up onto her lap. "Its way past your bedtime," she scolded.

"But daddy just woke up" Kimi replied, half exited, half apologetic.

"He did?" answered Nabiki, not bothering to wonder how Kimiko had known. "What's he thinking?"

"He's looking for you mommy" Kimiko replied, "he's seen Yuri and Richard and is afraid that you might be hurt."

"Will you tell him that we're okay" Nabiki asked

"O-tay do-tey" Kimiko replied happily, closing her eyes to concentrate. Seconds later she opened them. "Its not fair" she pouted.

"What's not?" Nabiki asked.  
"He told me to go to bed too!" the girl whined. Nabiki laughed and ruffled her baby girl's hair.

"How's about we both go to bed then?" she offered. Kimi smiled and nodded and that was that. The two of them cuddled up in Nabiki's bed and were soon fast asleep.

O

O

The next day was no less hectic for the Captain. Everything from damage and repair reports to quartermaster's lists seemed to need urgent attention. In the corridor outside her room there seemed to be a permanent conference of people waiting to see her. Eventually it was Misato that saved her. Still bandaged and somewhat unsteady on her feet the 2 i/c simply ordered everyone to find someone else to bother for a couple of hours and shooed them back towards the lifts.

"Thanks Misato-chan" Nabiki offered.

"No worries Biki-babe" the woman returned. For a long few moments the other woman just sat there and let Nabiki finish the report she was reading. Then finally she voiced the words that had been burning to be heard.

"So what now?" she said and Nabiki knew exactly what she meant.

"Now" Nabiki began, "now we have a problem. Our lift drive is KO'ed, presumed dead, most of our weapon systems are off line and our able bodied crew barely enough to skeleton man the ship. I just don't see that we've got much choice."

"So we stay?" Misato asked.

"We've got nowhere else to go" Nabiki confirmed.

"I'll see what I can do about getting the station back on line." Misato offered.

"And see if the drone plan will work" Nabiki added.  
"Seems like a long shot to me" Misato replied, "but it can hardly do any harm."

"My thoughts exactly" Nabiki replied.


End file.
